Ants prey on cicada hatchlings

Temperate-zone cicadas are characterised among insects by their long-lived underground nymphal stages, which live for 5–20 years or more. Here we report the extensive occurrence of above-ground predation on eggs and first-instar nymphs of the common Japanese brown cicada, Graptopsaltria nigrofuscata, by colonial ants in a city park. Predation on eggs and first-instar nymphs by ants may be a major source of above-ground mortality rate in a population of this Japanese cicada species.