Cicadas are very curious bugs who spend the last few weeks of their life as flying, sap sucking adults. But before this happens they spend many mysterious years underground as nymphs and need to surface in a short time frame to successfully breed. The most dangerous time for a Cicada Nymph is this transformation time, one mistake here can prove fatal because there are many ant colonies looking out for a easy meal. The next greatest obstacle in life is avoiding bird attack. This video features how I have found Cicadas who have had unfortunate starts to adult life. Along the way there are a few who made it and some Cicada rescue missions.

The cicadas are a superfamily, the Cicadoidea, of insects in the order Hemiptera (true bugs). They are in the suborder Auchenorrhyncha,[a] along with smaller jumping bugs such as leafhoppers and froghoppers. It is divided into the Tettigarctidae, with two species in Australia, and Cicadidae, with more than 1,300 species described from around the world; many undescribed species remain. Cicadas have prominent eyes set wide apart, short antennae, and membranous front wings. They have an exceptionally loud song, produced not by stridulation, but by vibrating drumlike tymbals rapidly. The earliest known fossil Cicadomorpha appeared in the Upper Permian period; extant species occur all around the world in temperate to tropical climates. They typically live in trees, feeding on sap and laying their eggs in a slit in the bark. Most cicadas are cryptic, singing at night to avoid predators. The periodic cicadas spend most of their lives as underground nymphs, emerging only after 13 or 17 years, which may reduce losses by starving their predators and eventually emerging in huge numbers that overwhelm and satiate any remaining predators. The annual cicadas are species that emerge every year. Though these cicada have life cycles that can vary from one to nine or more years as underground larvae, their emergence above ground as adults is not synchronized so some appear every year. Cicadas have been featured in literature since the time of Homer's Iliad, and as motifs in art from the Chinese Shang dynasty. They have been used in myths and folklore to represent carefree living and immortality. Cicadas are eaten in various countries, including China, where the nymphs are served deepfried in Shandong cuisine. From my observations Cicadas are the main diet of birds and ants. Such is the circle of life for the humble Cicada, if you see a Cicada In trouble please attempt to save it.

Web Links :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicada
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant