Why are periodical cicadas so unlucky? Let's talk about them at the end of summer

The cicada calls that ring through summer come from male cicadas; females have no sound-producing organ. To attract females to mate with them, male cicadas call with all the strength they gained from eating tree roots. After all, compared with the long, pitch-dark years of dormancy, their days in the sun are so short!

So if cicadas are a bit noisy, it seems... tolerable? Original image: Pixabay

Waiting 17 years for one chance, and what do they get?

Cicada nymphs live in the soil and feed on plant roots and stems. Most cicadas stay underground for several years, while in the United States there are "17-year cicadas" and "13-year cicadas," which, as the names suggest,spend 17 or 13 years dormant in the soil. If you spend your whole life in one place in the United States, you really might see them only once every dozen or so years.

In an episode of the American TV series Supernatural, someone mysteriously disappears every 27 years in a small Colorado town, and later it turns out that cicada ghosts are behind it. But in reality, the 17-year and 13-year cicadas are the victims. They should be enjoying singing and sex to the fullest during their brief few weeks, yet theymay not even be able to keep their own butts. You could say they are extremely unlucky!

Infected by fungus, losing their butts. Image: MATT KASSON / The Atlantic

When they go out to have fun, some cicadas get infected by a fungus called Massospora, and a tragic fate unfolds. The fungus enters the cicada's body and eats the organs inside. After a week, the growingfungus finally bursts out of the cicada's butt, producing a mass of snowy white spores. The fungus breaking out of the cicada is astonishing. Yet these cicadas carry on enjoying life as if nothing were wrong. Theyshed spores while flying, and the spores dropping from their butts infect other cicadas. This must be the insect world's "Salt Bae of death."

"Come on, come on, every cicada gets a share, no rush." Image: @nusr_ett / Twitter

Could anything be more exciting than this?

Yes. These cicadas scattering salt everywhere have already been sent sky-high by hallucinogens secreted by the fungus.

The killer move of the deadly drug fungus "Heisenberg"

Massospora being able to "blow out the butt" of an insect is nothing new, but you're a cicada, and you're already this miserable - shouldn't you be lying there barely alive, waiting to die? Indeed, many other insects basically go quiet after being infected by fungi, but these cicadas instead becomefar more restless and far more active. Something must be going on here.

Now, researchers have discovered the fungus's killer move:using hallucinogens to control insects.

In May 2016, when 17-year and 13-year cicadas emerged in large numbers in the northeastern United States, researchers luckily collected about 150 unlucky "Salt Baes of death." A year later, another infected cicada species was added to the experiment. The researchers analyzed the chemicals contained in the clump of Massospora spores on the butts of various cicadas.

As a result,they actually found psilocybin, the hallucinogen in "magic mushrooms"(Psilocybin). When it was first discovered, the researchers' jaws nearly dropped like a cicada's butt, because apart from mushrooms, psilocybin had never been found anywhere else before. Moreover, they diverged from Massospora about 900 million years ago.

Psilocybin was first discovered in this mushroom (Psilocybe mexicana). Image: Alan Rockefeller / Wikipedia

Surprisingly, the researchers also found cathinone (Cathinone) - a kind of amphetamine (Amphetamine) and an important component of "bath salts." As for what "bath salts" are? Please refer to the Miami "face-eating case." Moreover, there was no previous precedent of finding cathinone in fungi. People only knew that a kind of Arabian tea, khat, contains cathinone, and people in the Middle East and the Horn of Africa have a history of chewing this plant. These chemicals were not found in uninfected cicadas.

This drug packaged as bath salts made a man attack a homeless man in a frenzied state and chew off the homeless man's face. This is the Miami "face-eating case" that shocked the world. Image: drogen.bz

How crazy can cicadas get when they're high?

Once a cicada is infected, it behaves strangely. In addition to a large mass of spores bursting from its rear, male cicadas also becomeabnormally active and extremelylustful. They transform into teddy-bear cicadas, wanting to mate with anything they see, and they won't even spare members of the same sex. To attract their bros, teddy-bear cicadas even imitate females by flapping their wings. One can't help asking: where are your morals?

These strange behaviors do not help the cicadas themselves at all, because their genitalia have either been eaten by the fungus or fallen off along with their butts. However, the fungus benefits greatly from this. The shameless, futile efforts of the teddy-bear cicadas only help the fungus infect morenew hosts。

An uninfected male cicada (left) tore off the genitalia of a fungus-infected female cicada (right). Image source: Reference 2

Even though their butts are about to fall off, infected cicadas can still energetically carry the fungus and dance gracefully, tirelessly shedding spores, and this may be thanks to cathinone. As for the role of psilocybin, it is hard to say. It can make humans hallucinate, but we do not know whether it has the same effect on cicadas. However, there is a hypothesis that the reason magic mushrooms release psilocybin is to reduce the appetite of insects that compete for food, so that the scheming mushroom can enjoy rotting wood alone. Perhaps Massospora uses psilocybin to reduce cicadas' appetite and shift more of their energy into sexual desire.

They researched drugs - now are you afraid?

The discovery of hallucinogens was so unexpected that the research team could not help wondering whether something had gone wrong with the experiment. While the experiment was underway, the researchers felt nervous:this stuff is illegal, especially psilocybin, which is a Schedule I controlled substance. In the United States, researching psilocybin requires permission from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration first. So the researchers began to worry that the DEA would suddenly show up, immediately give them a round of electric shocks, and confiscate these experimental subjects. To the researchers, these cicadas were their "salt-shedding treasures," so they quickly wrote the DEA an expla(nation) email (turning themselves in).

"This... is very interesting," the DEA replied. After some discussion, the DEA told the researchers that they could go ahead with the experiment without worry, becausethe amount of hallucinogens in the cicadas is very small ⟧51⟧, and the researchers did not plan to extract them., and the researchers do not intend to extract it either.

As onlookers, what we care about most is of course: if a person eats infected cicadas, will there be any effect?

After all, fried cicadas are crunchy, and plenty of people eat them. Image: Wa Ta Ma... / Douguo Food

The researchers speculatethat eating a dozen or more infected cicadas could possibly get you high. But this may require the cicadas to be in the early stage of infection, that is, before they fly out to shed salt. This is because at this time, in order to better control the host, the fungus is very likely to release more of these chemicals. While you are thinking about whether to deep-fry or stir-fry them, do not forget the introduction at the beginning: these 17-year and 13-year cicadas live in the United States. Even more, do not forget: cherish life and stay away from drugs.

After all, although these cicadas are high, they still lose even their butts.

This amazing animal can also be seen whenever you want to see it. Image: Katja Schulz / Flickr

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Cicadidae, red-veined bear cicada