cicada: nature's noisy neighbor
DESCRIPTION
A little book on cicadas.TRANSCRIPT
cicadanature’s noisy neighbor
by: heather franklin
cicadanature’s noisy neighbor
heather franklin: umsl printing services: st. louis, 2013
Copyright © 2013 by Heather Franklin
All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
Published by UMSL Printing Services
“Do you know the legend about cicadas? They say they are the souls of poets who cannot keep quiet because, when they were alive, they never wrote the poems they wanted to.”
— John Berger
contentsa guide to the exhibit
1–2
3–4
5–6
7–8
9–10
11–12
13–14
what is a cicada?
anatomy of a cicada
cicada song
life cycle
molting
cicada killer wasp
the cicada’s purpose
1
cicadanature’s noisy neighbor
Cicadas are insects that are known for the ever constant, high pitch buzzing and clicking noises they make during the summer. They are found worldwide, with over 2,500 species of cicada known to date. It is common for these critters to be mistaken for locusts, but they actually have no relation to them at all. They have large, widely spaced eyes and large, veiny wings. Cicadas have a life cycle of 13 to 17 years, and they can grow anywhere from an inch to almost 6 inches in length!
2
1 2
3
5
6
7
1. HEAD
2. ANTENNA
3. COMPOUND EYE
4. WING
5. ABDOMEN
6. THORAX
7. WING STUMP
(top)
3
4
8
9
10
11
12
8. PROBOSCIS
9. FORELEG
10. MIDLEG
11. HINDLEG
12. ANUS
(bottom)
4
tymbals“the cicada song”
5
Cicadas are the loudest insects in the world, and can be heard from up to a mile away. Unlike crickets that rub their legs together to make noise, Cicadas has muscles that vibrate rapidly and make this sound.
When the muscles contract the tymbal, the ribs buckle. As each rib buckles, it strikes against the tymbal plate and makes a clicking noise that is amplified by it.
long ribs buckle
tymbal plate
amplifies
6
life Cyclefrom egg to nymph
The life cycle of a cicada can last 13 to 17 years. It begins with the male courting the female through the cicada song. After mating, the female will then lay her eggs into a tree. Upon hatching, the hatchlings will crawl down the same tree and bury itself underground where it will feed on the roots for 13 or 17 years depending on the brood. When it is ready, the nymph will emerge and crawl back up the tree where it awaits for its next big step: molting its exoskeleton and becoming an adult.
7
Female cicadas will lay 400-500 eggs in as many nests as she can before she dies.
Nymphs will live 8 feet under the ground for most of their life.
Soil temperature decides when the nymph constructs a tunnel and returns to the surface.
8
moltingfrom nymph to adult
The actual molting process for a cicada can take up to an hour. They start out pale and transparent, and after the blood flows around the body, the organs are saturated with nutrients. This helps the cicada to harden, which is why over time, the Cicada get’s darker and darker in color. At the end of this process, the cicada breaks free, leaving its shell behind, still clinging to the tree.
9
EXOSKELETON
NEW CICADA SKIN
HARDENED SKIN
10
cicada killer waspa solitary predator
Cicada killer wasps are one of the largest wasps in the world, but they are harmless to humans. It is said that their only purpose in life is to hunt cicadas, a task which is done by the female wasp. Once she finds a cicada, she stings and paralyzes it, and then carries it back to her burrow. Her goal is to fill each cell in her burrow with a cicada. She then lays only one egg inside of it, and within a couple days, the egg hatches, and the newborn larvae eats the cicada from the inside out.
11
Within a minute of being stung, the cicada will become paralyzed.
The cicada killer wasp is strong enough to carry a cicada, which can be three times its weight.
12
13
what purpose do cicadas serve?
To many of us, cicadas are just an annoying inconvenience with no purpose in life whatsoever. But to say this would be unfair. Cicadas help clear out dead branches from the trees they live in, and are also a vital food source for many, including humans in some parts of the world. Cicadas not only help the environment, but to some individuals, they represent patience, determination, and a willingness to live life to its fullest.
what purpose do cicadas serve?
14
This book was created by Heather Franklin under the supervision of Jennifer McKnight as an assignment in Advanced Problems 2 of Graphic Design in the Spring semester of 2013 at the University of Missouri– St. Louis. All pages were composed in Indesign CS5 using images created in Illustrator CS5. The type is set in MetaPlus Book, with the captions and headings in Governor. It is printed on Bright White Paper from Paper and More.
