Why 'cicada' song in brittany is not what it seems (and sounds like)

AN ENVIRONMENTAL GROUP WAS ALARMED BY THE SOUND, WHICH IS USUALLY HEARD IN MEDITERRANEAN AREAS, BUT A LOCAL ENTOMOLOGIST HAS A MORE LOGICAL EXPLANATION The ‘Cicada song’ reportedly heard in

Morbihan, Brittany, by members of a local environmental group is probably not what it seems, a local entomologist told _The Connexion_. The group _Bretagne Vivante_ said that the insects,

which are native to southern Mediterranean areas, could have been brought to the Saint-Marcel area on olive trees imported from Spain, adding that cicada larvae could have hidden in the bark

and soil. However, entomologist Michel Collin believes there is another, more logical, explanation. CRICKETS THE MORE LIKELY CULPRIT Mr Collin, who originates from Morbihan and leads the

_Bureau d’Études en Entomologie_, a Brittany-based entomological research and education group, said that the sound was probably that of crickets. The great green bush-cricket, which can be

found in almost all of France, produces a very similar sound to that of cicadas when temperatures rise in the summer. This cricket is very susceptible to pesticides, which is why it has

become increasingly rare in areas like Brittany where there is a lot of intensive farming. Though it occasionally eats plants, this cricket mainly consumes other insects, such as

caterpillars and pests like the potato beetle. Indeed, prior to the growth of chemical pesticides, these crickets were seen as free pest control. Hearing them in Brittany is therefore a good

sign. Although it is still a possibility that cicadas have been introduced accidentally, Mr Collin says it is ‘highly unlikely’. Both cicadas and crickets ‘sing’ when temperatures rise

above a certain threshold, which is why global warming may affect how much they are heard during the year. However, they produce their sounds in different ways, as cicadas vibrate their

hollow thorax while crickets mostly use a dedicated part of their legs. Turning singing insects into cicadas is not a first in France: the poet Jean de la Fontaine’s fable, ‘the ant and the

cicada’ was originally a Greek story by Aespo, titled ‘the ant and the grasshopper’. READ MORE: WHY YOU MAY BE HEARING CICADAS IN FRANCE MORE THIS WEEK ÊTRE FOURMI PLUTÔT QUE CIGALE: A

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