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ST. GEORGE — Tapping, clicking, buzzing and whirring — just what is that sound? Southern Utah's cicadas are out and about serenading the southwest desert.
Cicadas spend most of their lives underground as nymphs, where they feed on the fluid in tree roots with their piercing-sucking mouthparts, called proboscises — similar to a mosquito but larger.
However, Utah State University Extension says residents don't need to worry about their plants as cicadas are unlikely to cause major damage to vegetation. Nymphs rarely harm root systems or leave empty soil patches while emerging.
The insects can remain underground for months or years. But then the brood emerges simultaneously, cued by their precise internal "rain clocks," Samuel Wells, an assistant biology professor at Southern Utah University, previously told St. George News. More recently, he added that they also rely on temperature-based chemical cues from the plants they feed on.
They push through the soil as they surface from their subterranean homes, leaving asymmetrical, dime-sized holes. They climb nearby plants, shedding their exoskeletons. While they may look somewhat alarming, these bugs are reportedly harmless, and according to Cicada Mania, they are unlikely to bite unless they mistake a person for a meal.
