Cicadas Race to Catch Up With Their Evolving Endosymbionts
In cicadas, a world of microbes has evolved to provide them nutrients. Researchers at the University of Montana have discovered that a cicada bacterial endosymbiont, Hodgkinia cicadicola, has split into at least two dozen lineages within cicada cells, in an apparent case of nonadaptive evolution.
Periodical Cicadas in Iowa, Summer of 2014
This summer, I found myself back in my home state of Iowa, where I had the privilege of witnessing the emergence of the periodical cicadas. In some areas of Iowa, […]
What You Really Need to Know about the 2013 Cicada Invasion
By Tracy Leskey Want to see people’s eyebrows raise? Tell them you are en entomologist, aka someone who studies bugs, in the summer of the “cicada invasion.” According to the […]