ANIMALS – Zombies, sex and pee. These are the key words that describe the invasion of cicadas that the Americans will observe. In the northwestern part of the United States, thousands of billions of cicadas of several different species will emerge from the ground in unison, after having waited more than ten years under the feet of the Americans.
Unfortunately, some of these animals will not be in great shape. Indeed, a sexually transmitted disease affects these animals. More precisely, it is a mushroom, Massospora cicadina. The latter settles in place of their abdomen, a white and chalky plug bursts, causing their genitals to fall out.
As if that wasn’t enough, the cicadas still seem to be alive, like zombies. They eat and fly like their healthy counterparts. One thing sets them apart though, their thirst for sex. To propagate, the fungus commands the cicada to mate. It can be a male, a female, it doesn’t matter, the goal is to contaminate as many cicadas as possible.
A historic event
This cicada invasion is known to scientists because it happens periodically. Every 13 or 17 years, a brood of these insects emerges from the ground after waiting as nymphs. But this year is exceptional because two broods of cicadas will emerge: brood XIX, which emerges every 13 years, will emerge in Georgia and the southeast of the country, and brood XIII, which emerges every 17 years, will appear in the ‘Illinois.
A convergence which will multiply the number of these insects. It will then be possible to observe a phenomenon as disgusting as it is intriguing: weeping trees. In fact, a transparent liquid will fall from the trees where the cicadas shelter. This is their “pee”. The reason is simple: cicadas feed on xylem, a tissue that transports water and nutrients from roots to leaves. As they continually consume it, they also pee regularly.
If this particular shower isn’t enough, cicadas have another strange asset in their wings. Or rather in their abdomen. Two cymbals inside it click up to 900 times per minute, under the effect of a muscle, which produces this characteristic song. But some of the species that will invade the United States have a much less pleasant song as you can hear in our video at the top of the article.
A hypersexual mushroom
Because billions of these insects will land in the forests, parks and gardens of Americans, some have the good idea… to taste them. But researchers advise against eating a cicada, because of the Massospora cicadin. This mushroom is not yet very well known to scientists, particularly due to the very specific life cycle of cicadas.
This fungus produces spores on cicadas and it is suspected that when the cicadas die, the spores enter the soil and infect other cicadas underground. Then, during the period when the insects stay underground, there probably isn’t much happening. The fungus just works behind the scenes to become the master in charge, and direct the infected cicada as it sees fit. But does it stop at cicadas?
“We know that many animals gobble up these cicadas as they appear: snakes and birds,” explains for CBS News Matthew Kasson, professor of mycology at West Virginia University. However, researchers currently have no evidence showing that this fungus could attack other species, including humans. The Last of Usit seems that it will not be right away.
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