Step outdoors and you can already hear the cicadas calling. But it's not quite the same experience in Tucson as it is in the Midwest or the East.
Our most common species is the Apache Cicada, which has an unsynchronized three-year life cycle, so the bugs don't emerge in masses as the 17-year periodical cicadas do in other parts of the country.
"The insects are out now, but they don't seem to come out in hordes the way they do every 17 years," said University of Arizona entomologist Paul Baker.
The critters tend to come out around Father's Day into monsoon season because they like the heat and humidity, said UA entomologist Dawn Gouge.
Because there's less moisture in Tucson than the Midwest or East Coast, the population doesn't get as large as it does there. Back East, every place is wet, so the insect population can be severe at times, Baker said.
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° Jennifer Duffy
Cicada crazy
If you want to catch cicadas in Tucson, go outside and follow the buzz. But because the Sonoran Desert cicada crop is nothing like the eruption happening back East, here's how you can check out the highlights there.
Cicada art - Greenberg's cicada art can be viewed by appointment through July 24 at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. Contact Amy Mackie or Aiden Faust at the Office of Graduate Studies, 1-410-225-2534.
Philadelphia Insectarium, 8046 Frankford Ave., Philadelphia - The museum features live and mounted insect displays, including cicadas. $5 per person; free for children 2 and younger with paying adult. More at www.insectarium.com
