Cicada Crew UMD

Cicada Crew UMD Insects are a wonderful part of the natural world we live in.

We understand that many people may feel uncomfortable around them, so we aim to help you understand the purpose and wonder of Periodical Cicadas.

06/20/2021

The remaining female periodical cicadas are laying their eggs. Here is a female cicada inserting her ovipositor (egg-laying appendage) into a blueberry bush branch to lay her eggs. Can you see her abdomen pulsing? The pulsing is the cicada pumping her eggs through her ovipositor and into the branch. This female will lay 20-30 eggs in this ‘egg nest’, but she can lay up to 600 eggs during her short adult lifetime. These eggs will hatch in ~6 weeks. The cicada nymphs will fall to the ground and dig down, where they will remain for the next 17 years!

Have you seen any blue, orange, or white eyed cicadas? Red eyes are the most common periodical cicada eye color, but app...
05/25/2021

Have you seen any blue, orange, or white eyed cicadas? Red eyes are the most common periodical cicada eye color, but approximately every one and a million has a genetic variation causing an eye color variation. When cicadas are nymphs underground, they possess white eyes, with no pigment. The year of emergence, the cicadas’ eye color changes. What color cicada eyes do you see? Tag us or send us photos of cicadas! First cicada 📸 by .

Sauteed nymph cicadas with grits and wildflower salad and skewed adult cicadas with Old Bay Seasoning! Yummy!
05/19/2021

Sauteed nymph cicadas with grits and wildflower salad and skewed adult cicadas with Old Bay Seasoning! Yummy!

Brood X Cicadas are starting to emerge — now is the time to make Cicada Emergence Cookies! Don’t they look delicious? Th...
05/14/2021

Brood X Cicadas are starting to emerge — now is the time to make Cicada Emergence Cookies! Don’t they look delicious? The cookies in these photos were baked by Cicada Crew member .michael. Photo credit:

Check out the Cicada Cookbook located on our resources page for cicada emergence cookies and other great recipes!
Link: bit.ly/3tOCwzU

05/05/2021

The video speaks for itself! More cicadas have emerged on the University of Maryland College Park campus. Are you ready to experience the deafening hum of billions of cicadas in the next two weeks?

05/01/2021

Cicadas for kids! This video helps teach kids about cicadas about cicadas to help them feel less nervous and more excited about the emergence. Check out and share this video from our Cicada Crew UMD YouTube channel! This video was created for kids ages 6-10 years old.

May and June 2021 are officially Magicicada months! Let's spread the good news and awareness about this spectacular even...
04/30/2021

May and June 2021 are officially Magicicada months! Let's spread the good news and awareness about this spectacular event!

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04/28/2021

A reminder to grab your Brood X cicada merch before the cicadapalooza starts! 🎶🎉 All profits go toward supporting UMD entomology graduate students! 🪲🪰🐞

04/28/2021

Some early Brood X risers! Spotted and recorded by UMD student Colette () on the College Park campus. Can you spot the cicadas that are shedding their nymphal skin? We will be seeing more of this soon! Send us your videos and photos of periodical cicadas and we can tag you in a post. 😄👍

Ever wonder why cicadas only emerge in certain areas? There are 15 broods of periodical cicadas that emerge in different...
04/26/2021

Ever wonder why cicadas only emerge in certain areas?

There are 15 broods of periodical cicadas that emerge in different geographical regions at intervals of 13 or 17 years. Almost every year there is a brood of cicadas that emerges somewhere in the eastern half of the United States. Cicada presence may be patchy based on historical changes in patterns of land use. Deforestation for agriculture or urbanization may eliminate local populations of cicadas. Patterns of glaciation in the eastern North America over millennia likely affected their distributions. ​

You may see some cicadas with their abdomens missing during the Brood X emergence. This yellow substance in place of the...
04/17/2021

You may see some cicadas with their abdomens missing during the Brood X emergence. This yellow substance in place of the abdomen is a spore plug created by a fungus called Massospora cicadina. This fungus infects periodical cicadas and can be sexually transmitted between adult cicadas or transmitted from spores that drop to the soil, infecting the next generation of nymphal cicadas underground. Even though the fungus removes the cicadas’ abdomen, infected adult cicadas can still walk and fly around. The fungus does eventually kill the cicada. What’s interesting is this fungus is the only known predator/pathogen synchronized to the periodical cicadas’ life cycle!!

How many eggs do adult female Magicicada lay?They lay between 400-600 eggs in batches of 20-30. They eggs are laid on y...
04/16/2021

How many eggs do adult female Magicicada lay?

They lay between 400-600 eggs in batches of 20-30. They eggs are laid on young, pencil thin, branches of trees and shrubs. The eggs will then hatch 6-8 weeks later.

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