This ugly little bug is increasingly becoming a big issue in Korean newspapers. Originally it was only found in Southern China, but now, they are thriving all over Korea!!! This is "Lycorma delicatula White", or in Korean, the Flower Cicada.

And this small insect is waging terror among Korean farmers. Flower cicadas move in large flocks, and in these days, it is not hard to find hundreds and thousands of them clinging to a single fruit tree and drinking its sap. Because of the flower cicadas, fruit trees are in the danger of dying in large numbers. Their favorite foods are the saps from grape and apple trees, so farmers who cultivate these two fruits are in grave trouble.

One peculiar thing about flower cicadas is that they have NO predators. This is the reason why the eradication of them is not easy. The most effective solution is to apply insecticides to their eggs before the larvaes hatch, but it is clear that it would not be enough to drive all the cicadas out.

Of course, it is not the flower cicadas' fault that their living range has expanded so much. Global warming has lifted the northern limit line of tropical and subtropical animal species, so the flower cicadas, which have once inhabited only the warm Southern regions of China, became a thriving insect in the relatively cold Korean penninsula. In fact, the number of flower cicadas in Korea has increased 8300 times in the last 5 years. Unbelievable, isn' it?

When we do things that damage the planet, we really do not think very seriously about the results that they would bring. But, from the example of the flower cicada, we should know that we really should be responsible about our environment. The things we do to harm the environment always come back to us, any time in any form.