ST. LOUIS — Cicadas invaded the St. Louis region this month, but St. Louis seems to have conspicuously few of the insects.
Kasey Fowler-Finn, associate professor of biology at Saint Louis University, said there are cicadas in the city, such as in Forest and Lafayette parks, though likely fewer than in other areas of the metro nearby woods.
The key, she said, is trees.
Cicadas use them in a few ways, Fowler-Finn said: Females lay eggs in their branches, and those hatch after six to eight weeks. They then burrow about two feet underground, attach to roots and feed.
Unless there are woods nearby, there likely aren't enough trees in the city to produce large enough populations of cicadas to satiate predators, Fowler-Finn said.
In other words, some cicadas are emerging in the city, but predators, like birds, are eating them all up before they can reproduce. There are so many in areas nearby woods that they can't all be eaten.
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