Hello @abneagro,
I have finally sat down to read your post. It is delightful, as always. We do have cicadas here. Generally when we hear the song of the cicada we know fall is on the horizon. I love their song, but it's kind of sad, because when these insects sing it means summer is over.
Also now I know it's kind of sad for them. You say they don't live very long after mating--most of their lives are spent underground and that their adult phase is very brief.
It strikes me, when I read about the mating strategies of different species, that the urge reproduce, to perpetuate, governs almost all behavior. This is also evident in the strategy of the cicada fungus, which will not attack, you explain, until it has the chance to spread to the cicada's mate. Then the fungus will destroy its host...amazing.
I hope the summer treats you well. It is mild here, so far.
Your friend, AG
Entomology and other areas of biology are fascinating, I would say that each one has its attractive point, although it is also something that depends on tastes. Insects and all arthropods are amazing, there is a lot to learn from them and this is one of the things that attracts people to this field of biology, here I include myself, since I was a child I lived observing insects, spiders and so on to discover things about them, making use of library books. I was able to formalize it all more when I moved to university and it was here that I realized how really huge the world of arthropods is 😅😅.
Cicadas are good indicators when it comes to temperatures and seasonal changes, when they sing you know it's going to be very hot, but when these days culminate and their song disappears is that change is coming. These insects somehow adapted to fight against predation and not disappear, as they are prey to countless organisms, so in juvenile stages they live underground and after a long time (years or several months) emerge to move to an adult stage whose main purpose is to reproduce.
On the other hand, the Massospora fungus is really surprising, since these fungi once they colonize their host take part of its control, so they can even force it to look for cicadas of the same sex only to infect another new host and spread. Thank you very much for your comment and visit @agmoore, today was a calm and rainy day in my city.