Do periodical cicadas eat?

[LivingInThePast]

Okay, another thread posted this link about cicadas, and it indicates they “feed” on plants. Another link from that page indicates they can even bite people if really provoked (but pretty much harmlessly).

But I recall observing a major emergence, and I recall hearing (and thinking it was definitive) that these periodic cicadas were incapable of eating, and therefore the greatest danger to plants was that their weight would break off some limbs. Certainly, if they had been eating very much, the town would have been completely defoliated, because they were everywhere!

What’s the straight dope on this?

[DaveW]

Your second link has the answer:

Contrary to popular belief, adults do feed by sucking plant fluids; adult cicadas will die within days if not provided with living woody vegetation on which to feed. Magicicada feed from a wide variety of deciduous plants and shrubs, but usually not from grasses. The picture below [not included here] shows Magicicada septendecula feeding, with the piercing-and-sucking mouthparts visible just behind the forelegs.

As for the tree damage, that same link says,

Periodical cicadas can cause physical damage to small trees or shrubs if too many feed from the plant or lay eggs in the twigs; such damage can cause “flagging”, or breaking of peripheral twigs. Orchard and nursery owners probably should not plant young trees or shrubs in the years preceding an emergence of periodical cicadas, because young trees may be harmed by severe flagging. Mature trees and shrubs, however, usually survive even dense emergences of cicadas without apparent distress. This can be difficult to believe in the month or so following a large emergence when many deciduous trees turn brown due to the breakageand death of peripheral twigs. As serious as it may appear, such damage is apparently minor.

[LivingInThePast]

Well, they certainly don’t eat much, because I have seen trees defoliated by tent caterpillars, and I saw no evidence of damage from a massive emergence of cicadas.

Just wondering how to reconcile what I saw with what the article says…

[Squink]

It turns out that periodical cicadas are good eating:
Cicada: The other, other white meat

“You’re going to grab one and put it in your mouth alive,” he says with a twinkle in his eye. “You have to.”

[danceswithcats]

Wow-when I saw this thread title, I thought of cicadas devouring periodicals and easily becoming smarter than the average human.

[Cinnamon_Girl]

@Squink

It turns out that periodical cicadas are good eating:
Cicada: The other, other white meat

Everything about moving to the midwest from Hawaii has been a challenge. But this is it. I don’t think I can do cicadas. Horror story after horror story has put me on the very brink of sanity. And now you’ve done it.

Excuse me while I go hurl.