# Those Cicadas I Hear Today-When Did They Bury Themselves? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 20, 2015, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-cicadas-i-hear-today-when-did-they-bury-themselves/725688 "2015-07-20T13:39:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2015, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-cicadas-i-hear-today-when-did-they-bury-themselves/725688/1 "2015-07-20T13:39:36Z")
I have been hearing a few…not too many. At any rate, the 17 year ones came a few years ago-so would these be 7 year or some other time? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2015, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-cicadas-i-hear-today-when-did-they-bury-themselves/725688/2 "2015-07-20T14:21:07Z")
There are Cicadas with many different maturity cycles, and each brood has some individuals that mature every year (there’s not just _one_ batch of 17-year Cicadas). You would need to catch one to be sure. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2015, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-cicadas-i-hear-today-when-did-they-bury-themselves/725688/3 "2015-07-20T14:48:06Z")
Aren’t there also annuals, that stay underground a single season? ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2015, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-cicadas-i-hear-today-when-did-they-bury-themselves/725688/4 "2015-07-20T15:05:32Z")
Cicadas emerging this time of year are annual cicadas. They live two to five years underground, depending on the species and I believe on conditions underground. They do not have synchronized emergence, so some emerge every summer. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2015, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-cicadas-i-hear-today-when-did-they-bury-themselves/725688/5 "2015-07-20T15:18:41Z")
A bit of a hijack, but what benefit do they serve to the ecosystem? Would it be a terrible thing if they disappeared? I just had my house tented for termites; might I have wiped out a generation of cicadae? I would look it up myself but I do not want to risk seeing any photos \. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2015, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-cicadas-i-hear-today-when-did-they-bury-themselves/725688/6 "2015-07-20T15:54:16Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > A bit of a hijack, but what benefit do they serve to the ecosystem? Would it be a terrible thing if they disappeared? Like every other living thing, their ‘purpose’ - if they have one - is to reproduce and make more cicadas. Insects that spend a long time developing as larvae typically contain a significant stored energy reserve and represent a rich source of food for birds, reptiles, bats, bigger insects, etc. ---
**Author:** ![SandyHook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2015, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-cicadas-i-hear-today-when-did-they-bury-themselves/725688/7 "2015-07-21T01:15:46Z")
Do they bury themselves? My understanding (based pretty much on nothing I guess) was that the eggs were laid in the ground. They hatched there. Lived out the X number of years alloted to them then sprang forth to irritate country sleepers and reproduce. Is this not correct? ---
**Author:** ![ZurBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/71e660/32.png) [@ZurBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZurBob)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2015, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-cicadas-i-hear-today-when-did-they-bury-themselves/725688/8 "2015-07-21T02:02:05Z")
> [@SandyHook](#): > > Do they bury themselves? > > My understanding (based pretty much on nothing I guess) was that the eggs were laid in the ground. They hatched there. Lived out the X number of years alloted to them then sprang forth to irritate country sleepers and reproduce. > > Is this not correct? Generally speaking, adults lay their eggs in slits they make within the bark of trees. The very early larval stage then fall to the ground that same year, where they spend the next (X) number of years pupating, feeding on the root system of the original host plant. ---
**Author:** ![SandyHook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2015, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-cicadas-i-hear-today-when-did-they-bury-themselves/725688/9 "2015-07-21T02:22:39Z")
Well, I guess that clears that up. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![ZurBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/71e660/32.png) [@ZurBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZurBob)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2015, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-cicadas-i-hear-today-when-did-they-bury-themselves/725688/10 "2015-07-21T02:29:42Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > Cicadas emerging this time of year are annual cicadas. They live two to five years underground, depending on the species and I believe on conditions underground. They do not have synchronized emergence, so some emerge every summer. I think distinct broods of individual species all emerge at the same time regionally. Unless there are overlapping regions, it is unlikely to see the same specie emerge out of (sic) “synchronization”. ---
**Author:** ![ZurBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/71e660/32.png) [@ZurBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZurBob)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2015, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-cicadas-i-hear-today-when-did-they-bury-themselves/725688/11 "2015-07-21T02:35:27Z")
> [@SandyHook](#): > > Well, I guess that clears that up. > > Thank you. You are welcome.