Cicadas are known for emerging in the billions. These groups chatter so loudly that fiber optic cables can pick up the noise. However, the way that they pee is also making waves this year. Instead of urinating in tiny droplets that they flick from their butts like other insects and small organisms, cicadas pee in high speed jets more similar to large mammals. This unique urinary habit is detailed in a study published March 11 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
While the insects are a loud bunch, cicadas are not always so easily spotted among the trees. During a research trp in Peru, a team of scientists got lucky and found multiple cicadas peeing in the trees. From this encounter, the team was able to disprove two main beliefs about insect urination.
Droplets vs. jets
The insects that generally eat xylem sap from trees and pee in droplets since it uses less energy to excrete the sap. However, cicadas eat so much sap that individually flicking away each drop would be too taxing. Using this much energy to toss away pee droplets would mean that they needed to eat even more tree sap.
“Peeing in jets allows cicadas to generate a large volume of liquid excretion,” study co-author and bioengineer/biophysicist Elio Challita tells PopSci. “This is critical because these insects must ingest a substantial amount of xylem-sap daily. So they need to excrete large volumes as well.” Challita completed his work on this study while working with Georgia Tech’s Bhamla Lab and is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard University.
[Related: Watch these tiny bugs catapult urine with their butts.]
Saving energy
Smaller animals are also expected to urinate this way since their orifice is considered too small to release anything thicker than a droplet. Cicadas are on the larger…
Read the full article here