Try to Solve This Mystery:

Can cicadas hurt you?

The books and Web sites we looked
at all agreed that cicadas don't bite
or sting. As the Cicada Mania FAQ
page says, "They do have prickly feet
which can pinch or scratch, but they
won't injure you, maybe just scare
you a little."

Until last summer, that's what we
thought, too. Then, one day Aaron
had just picked up a cicada nymph
when he felt a sharp pain and started
crying. It hurt for about two minutes --
and he didn't ask for a bandaid. We
noticed part of his finger was red and
a bit swollen for about an hour after.

These pictures show two weapons
that the nymph might have used on
poor Aaron:

The photo on the left shows the sturdy
front legs that nymphs use to scratch
through hard dirt. The blue arrow on the
other photo points to the tube-like, piercing
mouth that nymphs use to suck sap from
tree roots.

Did the nymph pinch Aaron with its shovel
legs, or pierce him with its sucker mouth?
We don't really know.

Since we don't want it to happen again,
we try to remember to hold cicada nymphs
like this:

Actually, we almost always forget to hold
nymphs safely, yet none of us has been
hurt by a nymph since Aaron's injury. So,
to answer the question, cicada nymphs are
able to hurt you, but they almost never do.

What do you think?
E-mail us at Cicadas@SaltTheSandbox.org

Here are three Websites that we used to research this question:

Dan Century's Cicada Mania FAQ page
< http://www.dancentury.com/cicada/faq.html >

   University of Michigan's Periodical Cicada
   Home Page
   < http://insects.ummz.lsa.umich.edu/fauna/michigan_cicadas/Periodical/Index.html >

   Ohio State University's Extension Fact Sheet
   on Periodical and "Dog Day" Cicadas
   < http://www.ag.ohio-state.edu/~ohioline/hyg-fact/2000/2137.html >

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This page was created on August 30, 2000, and it was last updated on April 2, 2004.