Cicadas and the Astroid

Is there anything to the astroid and cicadas arriving in 17 years (2019)? Are they connected?

I know there are 17 year cicadas and 13 year cicadas. Several years ago was the time when they both hatched the same year. Wow was that noisy. don't remember the year though. I don't know about the asteroid thing.

golddog -
Numerology is a quicksand. You don't wanna go there.

Cacada's are 1, 3 ...13, and 17 etc. because those are prime numbers and are out of phase with their predator's
reproductive cycles. Asteroids operate on a wholly different scale. Chalk 2019 up to coincidence, or be prepared to get obsessive :)

Lophophora, Who are their predators? Interesting stuff.

According to one source, in the eastern US many species of birds, including such large raptors as the Swainson's Hawk (Buteo swainsoni) and the Mississippi Kite (Ictinia mississippiensis).

Here in Tokyo, the main predators are little boys with butterfly nets :)

Here's a good link for info on periodical cicadas of the US, including maps showing 13 and 17 year broods, and a timetable for the next 20 years or so.
http://mindell.ummz.lsa.umich.edu/Magicicada/Periodical/Index.html

Just this evening I heard a cicada calling from my Juglans nigra (black walnut to us Mid-Missourians)tree in my yard after studying this chart it seems that it must have been
one of the 13 year broods unless someone was off schedule. It was way up in the tree so I didn't get a closer look. Perhaps I should have gotten a net.

The cicadas are winding down here (finally). The end tips of the trees are beginning to fall off. The parks are covered with these tips, and they have to be removed before mowing. Oaks and sweetgums are the main diet here in town.

LOL KathyJo - you're gonna be the major predator in the Fayette area!!! ;)

golddog -

Wow!! Sounds like y'all have ALOT of cicadas!! Must have been pretty noisy?!

(And forgive my ignorance - I know my oaks, but what's a "sweetgum"? In California, Gum Trees are Eucalyptus...)

I looked at my favorite plant database and they didn't have a pic of the sweetgum I'm familiar with, but found a neat wallpaper. The sweetgums here seem to turn yellow in the autumn however. I would assume that it is similar to your's Golddog?

http://www.deskpicture.com/DPs/Nature/Autumn/Sweetgum_2.html

and here's the USDA plant database. My oldest daughter works for the NRCS so I just thought I would post it.

http://plants.usda.gov/cgi_bin/topics.cgi

Sweetgum. Liquidambar styraciflua.

Kathyjo & golddog -
thanks for the info! And, hehehe, i know the tree...
In fact, my dad planted one in our front yard 40 years ago - and now it's huge!

In California we have a really strange local name for it: we call it a "Liquid Amber".

:)

We planted one in the yard as a kid. My horse ate the top out of it. My Dad wasn't happy with me at the time. but now it's very tall and beautiful.