Autumn Insects and their Songs

KGNU - How On Earth

cicada
Credit: Tim McNary

Science & Songs of Katydids, Cicadas, etc. (start time: 3:08) It’s the time of year to savor listening each night to the pulsating and clicking sounds of katydids, cicadas, crickets and other straight-winged insects, all crying out for a mate. Soon, with the first big frost, the songs, along with the arthropods themselves, will disappear. In this week’s show, a longtime arthropod expert, Tim McNary, talks with host Susan Moran about things like, who are these small yet very vocal insects? What’s their life cycle like? What body parts make those noises? What role do these vocal insects play in the broader ecosystem? McNary is a curator at the Gillette Museum of Arthropod Diversity at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. Previously, he worked at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the field of grasshopper and locust management.

Hosts: Susan Moran, Joel Parker
Show & Executive Producer: Susan Moran
Engineer: Joel Parker

Listen to the show here: