Cicadas are so noisy in South Carolina that residents are calling the police

Re:Cicadas are so noisy in South Carolina that residents are... by whoopdedo on Tuesday April 23, 2024 @09:13PM (#40139313)

This is a double-brood year. But also, one of these broods is infected with the Massospora fungus. It's one of those mind-control parasites that makes the males "hyper-sexual"[1]. The zombie cicadas are driven to mate more aggressively, but their genitals have been replaced with the fungus so all they do is spread spores.

[1] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cicadas-zombies-hyper-sexual-se...

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Re:Cicadas are so noisy in South Carolina that residents are... by vundercind on Tuesday April 23, 2024 @09:56PM (#40139589)

Being any but a handful of species is basically living in an actual horror movie 100% of the time.

Those few, just part-time.

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Re:Cicadas are so noisy in South Carolina that residents are... by ethbr1 on Tuesday April 23, 2024 @10:03PM (#40139632)

>> But, he said, less than 5% of cicadas are infected with the fungus and researchers have yet to observe any impact on other wildlife.

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Re:Cicadas are so noisy in South Carolina that residents are... by giantg2 on Tuesday April 23, 2024 @09:37PM (#40139458)

So many jokes... must resists.

It's interesting though. The spores can be viable for years and it's thought they are transmitted via the soil. So why doesn't this spread to other years or even the annual broods?

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