If there is one thing that tells me that the wet season is just around the corner, it must be the song of the cicada.
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The cicada takes pride of place here in Katherine as Nitmiluk National Park is named after this noisy little beast.
Nitmiluk, pronounced Nit-me-look, is the Jawoyn name for Katherine Gorge.
It was given to the area by an important creation being when he arrived at the base of the gorge and heard the ‘Nit Nit Nit’ song of the cicada.
There are around around 200 different species of cicadas, the noisiest of all insects, spread across Australia.
They are so brightly coloured and conspicuous that many of their common names, like Double Drummer and Green Grocer, were given to them by children, which has resulted in the most colourful names of the insect world.
A cicada nymph will live underground for two to seven years, sucking sap from plant roots using special mouthparts.
Throughout these years underground they will develop through a series of stages called instars.
When the nymph reaches full size, it digs an exit tunnel and emerges into the great outdoors.
Once out of its burrow it climbs onto a nearby tree, shedding its skin for a final time, and becoming a fully-winged adult.
The empty nymphal skin is left behind, clinging to the bark of the tree.
Male cicadas ‘sing’ to attract a female by rapidly vibrating a membrane called a tymbal, situated on their abdomen.
The abdomen of the male cicada is largely hollow and acts as a sound box that he moves towards or away from the branch that he is sitting on, creating a song that is distinctive to each species of cicada.
The chorus of many male cicadas singing together makes it difficult for a predator to pick out an individual insect, meaning they are protected by their song.
Many species of cicada sing mainly during the heat of the day, where the song interferes with the normal communication of many birds, like us they also probably find the noise painful to the ear!
Once mating occurs a female cicada will lay her eggs in holes that she cuts in plant stems using her ovipositor, or egg laying tube.
These eggs hatch into small nymphs that fall to the ground, where they burrow down into the soil to start the cycle underground and wait until it is cicada time once again.