THE ANIMAL FILES

Pharaoh cicada

Magicicada septendecim

Seventeen years of development, then a chorus above the ground.

Magicicada septendecim is a North American periodical cicada with a seventeen-year schedule. The long interval is mainly juvenile development underground, not seventeen years spent as a singing adult.[1][3]

Follow the evidence ↓
Pharaoh cicada
Image: peterwchen · Commons · CC BY 4.0
Life cycle
Typically seventeen years[1]
Young
Underground, feeding on root fluids[3]
Adult signal
Calling song likened to “Pharaoh”[1]

Most of life is below the noise

Nymphs develop in soil and obtain fluids from roots. They pass through juvenile stages before coming to the surface and moulting into winged adults. The visible emergence is the end of a long growing period.[3]

A call and a colour pattern

This species has broad orange markings beneath the abdomen and orange patches on the thorax. Its calling phrase is compared to “Pharaoh”. Related thirteen-year cicadas can look and sound similar, so the cycle matters alongside appearance.[1][4]

From branches back to roots

Females place eggs in living twigs. After hatching, the tiny young drop to the ground, burrow into soil and find roots. Different regional broods follow different calendar years; a seventeen-year cycle does not mean all populations emerge together.[3]

A COMMON MIX-UP

Is the “seventeen-year locust” a grasshopper?

No. It is a cicada; the historical nickname does not change its identity.[3]

TRY A LITTLE REASONING

Why can two places have different emergence years?

Reveal the explanation

Their broods can occupy different positions in the recurring cycle. The interval and the calendar year are separate pieces of information.[3]

Sources & editorial notes

Adapted and translated from the cited Wikipedia revisions, with source-linked reasoning. Image credit and licence are listed separately above.

Adapted and translated from Wikipedia contributors; exact revisions are linked below. CC BY-SA 4.0

  1. Wikipedia contributors — Pharaoh cicada (fixed revision; adapted and translated)
  2. NCBI Taxonomy — Magicicada septendecim (identity and classification)
  3. University of Connecticut — Periodical cicada development and broods
  4. University of Connecticut — Magicicada septendecim species signals

Last fact check:

One discovery leads to another

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