We were making our daily lycoris data collection rounds last week, when Zac noticed a Dusk Singing Cicada (Megatibicen auletes) had landed on a surprise lily stalk. While we regularly hear these loud (up to 100 decibels) annual cicadas during the summer, we rarely see them since they usually confine themselves to tree tops, where the males sound off that they’re available for sex. They do this by rapidly vibrating their abdominal tymbals (think cymbals), sounding eerily like my childhood violin lesson practice sessions. Despite no vocal cords, their singing can be heard up to 1.5 miles away. Although missing his left eye, it was still able to fly when it finally decided to leave its ground-level perch.
Each year we are treated to a symphony of cicadas in our semi-rural enclave just outside of Raleigh. Ours sound like a Spinal Tap concert where the loudness on a scale of 1-10 is set at ’11’. The other day I was in the garden doing a little weeding and suddenly a cicada sounded off loudly at tree level above me, and then I realized it was flying which was highly unusual. Well it was a short but loud flight for this particular cicada that immediately went into a ‘nose dive’ from 25 ft above and crashed onto the ground just 20 ft. away. The noisy cacophony didn’t end there however, when I approached to see what the devil was going on I saw the cicada had been brought down by a large predatory European Hornet.
It’s survival of the fittest in the Miller garden,
Continued…..The hornet’s attack on the cicada went on for 5 minutes and involved rapid-fire stinging along the entire length of its body while the cicada called loudly and thrashed around, until the cicada finally succumbed to the hornet’s venom. As a biologist this was fascinating to watch, but to lovers of cicadas this may have been disturbing, so I decided to pass on posting the video.
When I returned 30 min later the cicada was gone, I could find no bits and pieces so it either recovered and flew away (doubtful) or according to experts, the hornet chewed off manageable pieces of the cicada and flew them back to its burrow to feed its larval young and/or to consume themselves.
Like I said, survival of the fittest.