Abstract
Periodical cicadas are insects that spend most of their life cycle below ground obtaining nutrients from the sap of tree roots. They emerge after 13 or 17 years depending on the brood type. In this case, around Georgia, the 13-year Brood XIX cicada emergence occurred in the summer of 2024. Cicadas emerged in mass amounts to mate and died en mass after mating. This mass emergence and mass death caused a detritus pulse over many counties' terrains in Georgia. Having that amount of detritus leads to a large biome for necrophagous arthropods to thrive. This leads to the question of what kind of necrophagous arthropods are attracted to cicada detritus. To study this phenomenon, we collected cicada detritus from different counties in Georgia. We reared insects from dead cicadas, put fresh-killed cicadas outdoors to attract arthropods, and collected adult flies attracted to cicada detritus. We then collected 77 arthropods found after the incubation period and identified them. We observed that there were 5 main orders including flies (44) beetles (26), ants (6), earwigs (1), and springtails (identification is in progress). In conclusion, we found that there is a diversity of necrophagy arthropods attracted to cicada detritus. This leads to a better understanding of how populations of necrophagous arthropods can reclaim a short-lived resource and thrive.
Language: English
Published on: Mar 20, 2025
Published by: University of North Georgia
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
© 2025 Clara Stump, Evan Lampert, published by University of North Georgia
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.