Cicadas, of which there are 1,500 species worldwide, are in the order Homoptera (sucking insects) and make up the family Cicadidae. Some species are annual, emerging every year, and some are periodical, with numerous years between emergences. As adults and juveniles, they feed on the xylem fluid of woody plants, using piercing and sucking mouthparts.
Female cicadas lay 200 to 600 eggs in slits they cut in the twigs and branches of trees and shrubs. The eggs hatch into nymphs, which drop to the ground and burrow into the soil as deep as six feet. Here they feed on the roots of trees and shrubs until they are ready to emerge. After spending most of their lives underground, the nymphs leave their burrows and climb up the trunks of trees where they emerge as fully-winged adult cicadas, leaving their old, empty, nymphal skins (exubia) behind. As adults, they complete their life cycle in just two to six weeks.
Adult male cicadas produce a loud, species-specific, mate-attracting song, using specialized sound-producing organs on their abdomens called tymbals. These sounds are among the loudest produced by any insect. Some large species, such as the Greengrocer of Australia, produce noise intensity in excess of 120 decibels at close range, which is approaching the pain threshold of the human ear. In contrast, some small species have songs so high in pitch that the noise is beyond the range of human hearing. When male cicadas sing, they have to close their tympana (hearing organs), so they will not be deafened by their own noise. Many species of cicadas gather into groups while calling, producing such a loud chorus that it repels birds, one of their main predators.
Periodical cicadas, of which there are seven species, have a life cycle of either 13 or 17 years, depending on the species, and occur only in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains. They have synchronized, regional emergences, which may cover parts of one state or several states, and some that can cover significant portions of the country. Unlike annual cicadas that appear every summer in relatively small numbers, periodical cicadas emerge in mass, numbering more than a million per acre. Their choruses are deafening but fortunately cease before dark, allowing anyone living in a “plagued” area to get some sleep! The whole invasion is over in four weeks after the first emergence, the adults having mated and died. The 17–year periodical cicada is the second longest living insect, next to the queen termite.
Just as the cicada nymph emerges from a lifetime of darkness underground and is transformed into a winged adult, leaving its old empty shell behind, so the sinner can leave a life of darkness in sin and be transformed into a new person, leaving behind his old, worldly self. “Souls that have borne the likeness of Satan have become transformed into the image of God. This change is in itself the miracle of miracles. A change wrought by the Word, it is one of the deepest mysteries of the Word. We cannot understand it; we can only believe, as declared by the Scriptures, it is ‘Christ in you, the hope of glory.’ ” The Acts of the Apostles, 476. Paul tells us, in Ephesians 4:22–24, to put off the old man, which is corrupt, and to put on the new man, which is created in righteousness and true holiness.
David Arbour writes from his home in DeQueen, Arkansas. He may be contacted by e-mail at: landmarks@stepstolife.org.