Grasshoppers, cicadas, locusts, all pretty much the same thing.
I was skeptical of what he said about every 17 years and then realized that the last devastating swarm was 33 years ago. Pretty damn close to two cycles of 17 years. Can't confirm if there was a swarm in '04 or '05 yet though.
The difference between cicadas and locusts is that cicadas do not damage crops, or much of anything, for that matter. They come out of the ground to mate after an extensive period of time underground. The females lay their eggs under tree bark and the larva eventually drop to the ground where they burrow and await the time when it's their turn to come out of the ground to mate. They are noisy, big and rather ugly, and they fly all over the place -- basically they're annoying, but harmless.
Locusts, however, will do extensive crop damage by eating everything in sight.
As adults they feed on plant fluids from the young twigs of trees and woody shrubs.
Contrary to popular opinion, adult cicadas do not cause serious plant damage from their feeding activities, but do damage plants as the result of their behavior of cutting small slits in the plant they use for places to deposit their eggs.
Grasshoppers, cicadas, locusts, all pretty much the same thing.
I was skeptical of what he said about every 17 years and then realized that the last devastating swarm was 33 years ago. Pretty damn close to two cycles of 17 years. Can't confirm if there was a swarm in '04 or '05 yet though.
The difference between cicadas and locusts is that cicadas do not damage crops, or much of anything, for that matter. They come out of the ground to mate after an extensive period of time underground. The females lay their eggs under tree bark and the larva eventually drop to the ground where they burrow and await the time when it's their turn to come out of the ground to mate. They are noisy, big and rather ugly, and they fly all over the place -- basically they're annoying, but harmless.
Locusts, however, will do extensive crop damage by eating everything in sight.
What are cicadas feeding off of to support swarms then?
As adults they feed on plant fluids from the young twigs of trees and woody shrubs.
Contrary to popular opinion, adult cicadas do not cause serious plant damage from their feeding activities, but do damage plants as the result of their behavior of cutting small slits in the plant they use for places to deposit their eggs.
https://www.orkin.com/other/cicadas/diet
https://www.cicadamania.com/cicadas/what-do-cicadas-eat/
Interesting, thanks. They do seem to be quite a bit different than locusts after all.