'Flying salt shakers of death:' Fungal-infected 'zombie' cicadas

Date:  June 25, 2019

Source:  West Virginia University

If cicadas made horror movies, they'd probably study the actions of their counterparts plagued by a certain psychedelic fungus.

West Virginia University researchers have discovered that a cicada fungus called Massopora contains chemicals similar to those found in hallucinogenic mushrooms.

The fungus causes cicadas to lose their limbs and eccentric behavior sets in: Males try to mate with everything they encounter, although the fungus has consumed their genitals and butts.

Despite the horrid physical state of infected cicadas, they continue to roam around freely as if nothing's wrong, dousing other cicadas with a dose of their disease.

You've heard of "The Walking Dead." This is "The Flying Dead."

"They are only zombies in the sense that the fungus is in control of their bodies," said Matt Kasson, assistant professor of forest pathology and one of the study's authors.

Cicadas first encounter the fungus underground where they spend 13 to 17 years before emerging to the surface as adults, Kasson said. Within seven to 10 days above ground, the abdomen begins to slough off revealing the fungal infection at the end of the cicada, he continued.

It's quite the coming out party.

"Infected adults maintain or accelerate normal host activity during sporulation, enabling rapid and widespread dispersal prior to host death," Kasson said. "They also engage in hypersexual behaviors."

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As cicadas emerge four years early, scientists wonder if climate change is providing a nudge

 May 18, 2017 by Scott Dance, The Baltimore Sun

Cicadas overwhelm tree branches across the mid-Atlantic once every 17 years, like clockwork. But something - some suspect climate change - could be sounding their alarm clocks four years early. 

In recent days, the red-eyed, nugget-shaped insects have been spotted crawling out from beneath trees from Northern Virginia to Bel Air, Md., in large - though not overwhelming - numbers.

The phenomenon is confusing entomologists who weren't expecting to see many of the screeching insects in the region until 2021.

Small numbers of cicadas can sometimes grow fast enough to emerge four years early. But there have been a thousand reports of cicadas up and down the Interstate 95 corridor in just the past two days, more than scientists expected.

Cicada lovers are wondering if the numerous reports are simply a sign of how easy the internet has made it to track the periodic rite of spring - or if climate change is nudging more cicadas to venture above ground early.

Scientists are asking residents to help them figure it out, using online reporting tools that didn't exist during earlier cicada cycles. They're collecting reports of cicada activity, which could continue for the next month, and also memories of how those conditions compare to past cicada seasons.

The data could help scientists investigate what is, for now, just a hypothesis: That longer growing seasons linked to climate change may have shortened the life cycle of many 17-year cicadas, and could end up creating new cycles of timekeeping broods.

"You could see many more individuals coming out four years early, and eventually those could become so numerous that they're self-reproducing," said Chris Simon, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Connecticut.

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Navy Seeks Secrets of Cicada Song

Megan Gannon, News Editor

Date: 03 June 2013 Time: 12:11 PM ET

For having relatively small bodies, cicadas make an impressive racket. Now, researchers with the U.S. Navy are trying to tap into the insects' acoustic abilities to create better techniques for remote sensing and other communications underwater.

Scientists have long been captivated by periodical cicadas, which have what may be the most extended youth of any known insect. It takes them 13 or 17 years to mature, depending on the brood. Cicadas also spend most of their lives underground, but when they reach adulthood, they crawl out of the dirt for a few weeks to molt and mate, have babies and die.

Their brief presence above the surface is marked by a deafening chorus of mating calls; East Coasters experiencing the emergence of Brood II are well aware of the noise, which can reach up to 100 decibels.

More at: http://www.livescience.com/37084-navy-seeks-secrets-of-cicada-song.html