![pharaoh cicada pharaoh cicada](https://t1.thpservices.com/previewimage/gallil/f1aef397bd00850c839cba889d155a0c/we208634.jpg)
Several weeks before emerging, exit holes are excavated and they wait for the right soil temperatures before coming up for their final molt to adulthood.ġ7-year Magicicada septendecim (pharaoh cicada – with bold orange belly stripes) at Doris Westfall Prairie Restoration Nature Preserve, Vermilion County. The eggs hatch and the young fall to the ground and dig underground where they subsist on root sap. Oaks and maples are favored, and young trees can be covered with netting to protect them from damage in high infestation areas.
![pharaoh cicada pharaoh cicada](https://blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2013/07/cicadaphysiology.jpg)
Eggs are laid in the limbs of young trees individually and in rows. The 17-year cicadas have the longest lifespan of any insect. The cicada numbers overwhelm the predators ensuring enough remain to breed and lay eggs. However, this strategy, known as predator saturation, confuses predators which consume the cicadas. One would think their coloration and noise would attract predators, and it does. They emerge en masse for four to six weeks, brilliantly orange-colored with red eyes, screaming and ready to breed. There are two cycles for periodical cicadas: 13-year and 17-year, which spend most of their lives as larvae underground. June of 2021 the residents of four east central Illinois counties (Clark, Crawford, Edgar and Vermilion) were treated to a truly wonderous experience-the emergence of the 17-year periodical cicadas known as Brood X.
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Brood X cicada group clinging to trunk of hawthorn tree at Forest Glen Park, Vermilion County.