http://ozarkspub.vo.llnwd.net/o37/KSMU/audio/mp3/cicadassee_716.mp3
Although the noise has diminished a bit as summer winds down, cicadas continue to make their presense known in Missouri. Mike Smith has the story:
From the Associated Press and KSMU News:
Scientists say the summer of 2006 has produced more cicadas than usual in Missouri. And with the higher numbers comes a louder chorus of the insects jsut about everywhere.
Missouri's top bug expert, State Entomologist Mike Brown with the Missouri Department of Agriculture, says the noise comes from male cicadas trying to attract females by contractions that vibrate membranes in their abdomens.
Brown says the higher numbers of the noisy inscets this year is due to unusually large overlapping hatch of the 10 or so species in the area. But this year's cicadaa are not the "periodical" kind which emerge in massive numbers every 17 years. Their next appearance is expected in 2015.
For KSMU News, I'm Mike Smith.