# Okanagana Cicada Life-Cycle
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okanagana-cicada-life-cycle/1076
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
**Created:** [August 19, 1999, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okanagana-cicada-life-cycle/1076 "1999-08-19T04:07:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@srubin63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/srubin63)
#### Post date: [August 19, 1999, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okanagana-cicada-life-cycle/1076/1 "1999-08-19T04:07:00Z")
I found the following on a “CICADAS” web-page that represents itself as
being from the University of Connecticut Dept. of Ecology and
Evolutionary Biology ([http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Spa/6208](http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Spa/6208)):
“Soper et al (112) showed experimentally that Okanagana rimosa had a life
cycle of 9 years, and that in the field during a 9-year period (1962 to
1970) it was extremely abundant in 4 years and scarce or absent in the
other 5. Heath (32) also studied cicadas of the genus Okanagana and
found several species that appear to be protoperiodical.”
Hope this helps. (Protoperiodical?)
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### Author:  [@srubin63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/srubin63)
#### Post date: [August 19, 1999, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okanagana-cicada-life-cycle/1076/2 "1999-08-19T04:13:00Z")
FYI - The URL for the mailbag item related to the topic I just submitted was [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mcicadas.html](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mcicadas.html)
– Seth
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### Author:  [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)
#### Post date: [August 19, 1999, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okanagana-cicada-life-cycle/1076/3 "1999-08-19T13:23:00Z")
Protoperiodical, from the Latin:
Proto = positively charged, like a proton
Peri = enchanted, as a fairy, elf, or similar of the fey folk
od = peculiar
ical = low calorie
Hence, a weird dietic happy elf.
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### Author:  [@mr\_john](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr_john)
#### Post date: [August 19, 1999, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okanagana-cicada-life-cycle/1076/4 "1999-08-19T14:48:00Z")
A hypothesus as to why the periods are such strange numbers 13 17 is that they are primes, if there are a lot of cicadas this year there will be a lot of predators born, next year there will be a lot of predators waiting, 3, 5, 7, 13, 17, and 21 are prime numbers unlikely that any predator will have a coinciding life cycle. 3, 7, 13, and 17 year are common names for different cicadas in America. There is a 21 in Africa. (used to be the 17 and 13 were considered the same species, the 13 being the 17 in the south where conditions were thought to be better, now one is at least a subspecies of the other) BTW in Texas the vernacular name is ‘locuss’ from the noise compared to the locust (grasshopper). Speakin of vernacular
protoperiodical from the dumbass vernacular
pro = professional
to = a digit on the foot
period = a dot
ical = in california
as in “Them Rams won acause that last fieldgoal was jist perfect, hit wuz protoperiodical” OR
Acronym-PROTO Meaning-Prototype
[http://www.acronymfinder.com/af-query.asp?Acronym=PROTO&String=exact](http://www.acronymfinder.com/af-query.asp?Acronym=PROTO&String=exact)
PROTOperiodical = experimental magazine
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### Author:  [@TheIncredibleHolg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheIncredibleHolg)
#### Post date: [August 19, 1999, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okanagana-cicada-life-cycle/1076/5 "1999-08-19T15:05:00Z")
pro - for
toper - drunkard
Io - a maiden changed into a heifer by Zeus
decal - a kind of picture
—\> if you’re drunk, it looks like a cow
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### Author:  [@JillGat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JillGat)
#### Post date: [August 19, 1999, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okanagana-cicada-life-cycle/1076/6 "1999-08-19T18:45:00Z")
[["Soper et al (112) showed experimentally that Okanagana rimosa had a life
cycle of 9 years]]
Does that mean I can come inside now? Whew. Thanks Srubin.