Cicada's song doesn't signal invasion

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Summer in Indiana this year has been filled with noisy days and nights. You may have noticed cicadas are back with a vengeance.

The constant cry of those noisy insects has Hoosiers wondering what's going on. State entomologist Phil Marshall says the noise you hear is a mating call.

"That's the male singing. He's out there trying to call to the female and say hey I'm the guy."

The shells you see left behind are skin cicadas shed as they go from baby to adult. But central Indiana residents like Joan Fitzpatrick are surprised to see the cicadas.

"I thought that a couple of years ago we were at the height of them. I thought cicadas didn't come around every year," she says.

Paul Herzog says as he looks at all the shells in the tree in his yard, "This is not the 17th year, so that's what kind of got me."

Cicadas do show up in 17 year cycles and in 13 year cycles but these are NOT those cicadas says State Entomologist Phil Marshall.

"These are the annual cicadas; they don't have the synchronized lifecycle." And this year in Indiana cicadas are a bumper crop. Weather is likely the reason says Marshall.

" It's been warm and moist throughout the season and probably giving them time to get up out of the soils."

Despite the noise of their mating song, male cicadas are harmless.

"It's the female that does the damage," says the state entomologist. Female cicadas make a slit in the twig of a tree to lay their eggs. A large mature tree can take it, but a small immature one, especially fruit trees need protection.

Marshall says, "you can put some cloth over them, mesh cloth, try and get 3/8ths inch mesh or smaller and just cover them." Other than that, there's no need to worry about the cicada invasion of 2010. They'll be here through September.

The next big cicada invasion, the species on the 17 year cicada cycle, is expected in 2021. But smaller infestations are also likely in 2013 and 2017.