Desert cicada

August brings the incessant buzzing of the apache cicada (Diceroprocta apache).  This is the quintessential sound of the desert summer, like a high wire buzzing through the atmosphere. It seems to resonate in the thunderhead laden air, as if the insect is the voice of  the cumulonimbus clouds skirting the horizon. The blue sky, the air thick with moisture - I can hardly breathe in this.  The heat lays on us like a wet towel,  and even the wind is hot and thick, not with the usual freshness that our desert winds bring. The cicada is the spirit of summer and the herald of fall.

Apache Cicada on mesquite trunk.

This amazing insect is not the same as the cicadas we hear about every 13 to  17 years on the east coast. That genus is "Magicicada" and are known colloquially as periodical cicadas.  While the apache cicada may live up to 3 years as a grub, feeding underground on roots and sap, they do not have the quirky and fantastic 17 year cycle, and we see them every year when they emerge in the hottest months of summer, their sound echoing on the landscape.

Cicadas are the only insects that have a true percussion mechanism for creating sound.  Unlike our cricket - another summer singer, that use modified forewings with a scraper and a file to create their song,  the cicada has a tympal that is vibrated by a large muscle.  This vibrant call carries up to 440 yards. There are 160 species of cicada in North America.  So let me join my voice to theirs in singing for joy in our desert summer, and in the anticipation of a glorious fall!!!