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Cicada Towers: Nature's Ingenious Predator-Proof Design Revealed

3/16/2026

Summary

Story summary

Researchers from the Serrapilheira Institute in northern Brazil studied clay towers built by Guyalna chlorogena cicadas and found they protect them during final development.
The towers reduce predator exposure, with eight times fewer ants on the towers than on the ground.
Researchers sealed the towers to manipulate airflow, revealing larger towers recover faster from respiratory stress.
The work redefines cicada towers as an extended phenotype and is published in Biotropica.

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Story summary

Researchers from the Serrapilheira Institute in northern Brazil studied clay towers built by Guyalna chlorogena cicadas and found they protect them during final development.
The towers reduce predator exposure, with eight times fewer ants on the towers than on the ground.
Researchers sealed the towers to manipulate airflow, revealing larger towers recover faster from respiratory stress.
The work redefines cicada towers as an extended phenotype and is published in Biotropica.