'Deafening' summer chorus erupts in Aussie backyards as millions of creatures awake
A cicada expert is on a mission to discover new species during what is shaping up to be a bumper year for cicadas.
There’s a sound echoing across Australia that’s more iconic than Cold Chisel, Tame Impala or even Kylie Minogue. Cicadas have woken from their slumber and the noise is deafening. “I had to cover my ears if I wanted to sit outside because of how piercing the sound was,” one NSW Central Coast resident told Yahoo News.
The masses of green grocer cicadas were expected because they emerge from underground every seven years. They were seen in huge numbers in September across the NSW Blue Mountains. Since then, surprisingly high numbers of other species of all shapes, sizes and colours have appeared and added to the chorus.
University of Sydney insect and parasite expert Professor David Emery has just returned from a six-day trip hunting for cicadas. He’s been searching for specimens of an undescribed species from the Yoyetta genus during his travels around the NSW Northern Tablelands and Mid North Coast.
“There was a cacophony of sound. I had to try and find this new one amongst a huge emergence of all these big ones – Cherrynose cicadas, razor grinders, and double drummers,” he told Yahoo News.
“It was absolutely deafening — it’s been an amazing year.”
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Sad reason driving expert's cicada field trips
This year in the United States, the highest numbers of cicadas emerged in over two centuries. Trillions were reported across the country after the periodic cycles of three abundant species aligned.
These cycles have been intricately studied in the United States, but less is known about what causes cicadas to emerge in Australia. Good winter rains and an early start to the spring are believed to have instigated this year’s event.
While the numbers this year are exciting, there’s a sad reason driving Emery’s field trips. He’s trying to describe species before they’re driven to extinction by climate change and habitat destruction.
Related: Christmas beetles and Bogong moths: Call to protect Australia's changing landscape
“We collect the specimens and describe them before we ruin their environment. Once we know what they are we put them in museums for future reference,” he said.
Emery has planned his trip around records uploaded to iNaturalist, an app that allows people around the world to upload pictures and descriptions of the animals, insects and plants they encounter.
“I’m describing them like crazy as fast as I can. I try to describe four every year,” he said.
“But we just haven’t got enough people on the ground looking for them.”
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