Cicada nymph predation by ants

Temperate cicadas are characterized by their extremely long underground nymphal stages, which last 5-20 years or more. Due to the prolonged underground juvenile stage, little is known about their juvenile survival and predation risk. Here, we report the extensive aboveground predation of eggs and 1st instar nymphs of the common Japanese brown cicada Graptopsaltria nigrofuscata by colonial ants in a city park. The greater than 95% mortality during the egg and 2nd instar nymph stages in periodical cicadas may be due to the aboveground predation by colonial ants. The observed predation by colonial ants may be a major source of mortality in this cicada species and other temperate cicadas. The typical life cycle of this Japanese cicada and temperate cicadas in general is proposed based on the current and previous studies., Newly hatched cicada nymphs (Hayashi & Saisho, 2015) of the most common brown-winged Japanese cicada, Graptopsaltria nigrofuscata, were studied. The observation site comprised three trees in Miyazaki 3rd Park, Miyamae-ku, Kawasaki, Japan (35.591329/139.590882), a typical small city park with planted trees. All three planted trees were a Japanese endemic species of conifer known as Sawara cypress, Chamaecyparis pisifera (Siebold et Zucc.) Endl. (Cupressales: Cupressaceae). The observation period was from June 7 to September 8, 2022 and from April 30 to October 4, 2023 for eggs and nymphs and from August 7 to August 17, 2023 for oviposition and hole-digging behavior. Cicada eggs were suspected to belong to the same species because of the rarity of occurrence of other species within the observed periods. A cell-phone camera (Oppo Ax7) was used to capture both movies and photos. Foraging ant species recorded in photos or movies were estimated to belong to the species as ants observed in..., , # Cicada nymph predation by ants ## Description of the data and file structure The video movie below is (1) those of the emergence of 1st instar nymphs of Japanese common brown cicadas (Graptopsaltria nigrofuscata) on the tree to movement to the ground before digging into the soil, where no ant is observed. VID20230701113232-no01.mp4 The video movies and jpg photos below are: (2) those of the emergence of 1st instar nymphs (or eggs) of Japanese common brown cicadas (Graptopsaltria nigrofuscata) on the tree to movement to the ground before digging into the soil, where the nymphs are caught by an ant. VID20230701113655-no02-movie3.mp4 VID20230701113051-no03.mp4 VID20220612083841-no04.mp4 IMG20220612083934-no05.jpg VID20220828112346-no06.mp4 VID20220828112538-no07-movie4.mp4 IMG20220901081236-no08.jpg VID20220903093415-no09.mp4 VID20220903093700-no10.mp4 IMG20220903093350-no11.jpg IMG20220906080834-no12.jpg VID20230430082222-no13.mp4 VID20230430081318-no14.mp4 VID20230430083259-no15.mp4...