Ants do not affect densities of periodical cicada nymphs (Homoptera : Cicadidae)

Periodical cicadas experience most mortality between the time when they hat ch from twig-borne eggs and establish on rootlets of their host trees. Pred ation by ants has been speculated to be the source of this high mortality. We experimentally manipulated the number of ants beneath trees during the t ime when cicada nymphs were hatching and moving underground in 1996. We cen sused the density of nymphs beneath these experimental trees two years late r in 1998. No effect of ants on cicada numbers was detected in this study, suggesting that they are not important in controlling densities of cicada n ymphs.