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April 02, 2004

Cicada

Seventeen years are up. Prepare for the invasion!

"If you dig in the right place, you can find 30 to 50 nymphs in a hole about a foot square [0.1 square meter]," Cooley said. After the cicadas have counted 17 years—"we really don't know how they count the years," Kritsky said—they are ready to emerge, which usually happens in late spring when the soil reaches a temperature of about 64° Fahrenheit (18° Celsius).

When twilight of their emergence day hits, the one-inch-long (2.5-centimeter-long) nymphs crawl out of their holes and up just about anything vertical—trees, barbecues, walls, tombstones.

Posted by Ghost of a flea at April 2, 2004 08:17 AM