Body Temperature and Responses of Periodical Cicadas (Homoptera: Cicadidae) to a Potential Predator.

The article presents a study on the response of Magicicada cassini to a model avian predator. The researchers performed the study on a rural area that is 1.2 kilometers west of Towanda in Butler County, Kansas, in which they positioned a stuffed crow or Corvus brachyrhynchos in a perch posture with folded wings above and in front of a cicada. They found that body temperature affected the response of male and female periodical cicadas to an approaching crow model. They also mentioned that the effect of body temperature on the decision process for escaping in cicadas has also been reported for other exothermic animals.