Cicada Invasion

[BmillsSkier]

There's an old Iceman cicada thread in the Archives but apparently you can't reply to those anymore so here we are. We'll see if the picture upload feature gets fixed in time to share any when the invasion comes.

Growing up I lived in an area with a lot of very old property and parkland that never got disturbed so the big brood emergences are burned into my memory as being all-encompassing and impossible to do anything outside without getting mobbed by these gross but harmless buggers.

Reading this article today I learned that this summer's invasion will be the biggest to date with multiple 13 and 17 year old broods overlapping. What I didn't know was that there is a parasitic fungus that attacks adult cicadas and releases mass amounts of amphetamine and psilocybin turning them into "flying salt shakers of death" while apparently wanting to party like hell on the way out.

"Kasson hopes to study a cicada-afflicting parasite known as Massospora. When this fascinating fungus infects an adult cicada, it floods the insect with amphetamine and psilocybin, each of which appear to influence its behavior.

For instance, although the fungus has taken over the lower-third of its body, replacing its abdomen and genitals with fungal tissue, the cicada appears to feel no pain. Instead, infected cicadas seem to want to party.

“There are some hypersexual behaviors,” Kasson said. “The males pretend to be females to get other healthy males to come and attempt to mate with them. And that’s probably a strategy by the fungus to increase the number of individuals that the fungus is able to infect.”

The parasite typically affects less than 5 percent of a given cicada population. But once infected, those chalky white abdomens sprinkle spores everywhere they go."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/to...es/ar-AA1nlA7a

Get ready to be grossed out for several weeks if you're in the affected zones.

[ötzi]

So, eat the ciccadas with the chalky-white abdomens. Got it.

[BmillsSkier]

That was my takeaway as well.

It's like the Floridaman of cicadas.

[JimmyCarter]

That brown area on the map needs to be extended to cover the Sphere in Vegas

[Mazderati]

Not looking forward to the looming human version of fungal takeover.

[BmillsSkier]

That brown area on the map needs to be extended to cover the Sphere in Vegas

Good point. I'll load up on cicadas for my trip there in June.

Not looking forward to the looming human version of fungal takeover.

So, this is how the zombie apocalypse starts, yeah?

[::: :::]

the drone is real

[heckacali]

That brown area on the map needs to be extended to cover the Sphere in Vegas

Referring to the Phish shows?

[mud]

The cicadas are coming for our Waffle Houses!

[BmillsSkier]

The cicadas are coming for our Waffle Houses!

Like hell they are!

[stealurface831]

the fly chucking will be all time.

[BmillsSkier]

the fly chucking will be all time.

Buddy of mine up in the mountains said the last time they had a big cicada event it turned every river and creek into hog heaven.

[supermodel159]

So...anyone want to post a Trip Report after eating the fungi-laden cicada?

[SKIP IN7RO]

So...anyone want to post a Trip Report after eating the fungi-laden cicada?

Pretty sure Shanin Blake has already been eating them.

[Mazderati]

The fungus will get back to you after it is control.

[::: :::]

i remember our dog munched em -- lab mix, so everything went in her mouth

[Tele 'til You're Smelly]

this scientist says the hype re a person getting high from eating them is overblown, but who knows: https://www.nbc4i.com/news/local-new...h-osus-bugdoc/

[BmillsSkier]

this scientist says the hype re a person getting high from eating them is overblown, but who knows: https://www.nbc4i.com/news/local-new...h-osus-bugdoc/

My biggest takeaway from that article:

“French Canadians wrote that they thought the English were stupid because they didn’t know the difference between a locust and a cicada.”

[mud]

Let's be honest, French Canadians get a lot of stuff wrong going back to the Iroquois.