Cicadomorpha Evans, 1946

Symbiosis provides nutrients: cicadas
 

The nutrient-poor diet of cicadas is supplemented thanks to specialized bacterial symbionts.

 
  "In collaboration with his post-doctoral research advisor Nancy Moran —  who has NSF support to study insects — McCutcheon  began observing the relationship between cicadas and the symbiotic bacteria that live  inside them…

"'Certain cicada species occur in overwhelming numbers,' he says. 'And  they are estimated to the most abundant herbivores in terms of both  their total weight and the total number of individuals in some North  American forests.'
 
 "But even more amazingly, cicadas achieve such success despite their  reliance on a nutrient-poor diet. Most species of cicada spend most of  their lives (from two to 17 years) underground before emerging en masse  at regular intervals. While underground, cicadas feed solely on the sap  of plant roots, which is the most nutrient-poor and unbalanced part of  plants.
 
 "So how do cicadas gather the nutrients they need to survive, despite  their low-nutrient diet? McCutcheon says that cicadas supplement their  diet by maintaining complicated relationships with two species of  specialized bacteria [Sulcia muelleri and Hodgkinia cicadicola] that live inside their cells. The bacteria produce  essential nutrients for the cicadas that the animals neither receive  from their sap diets nor produce themselves…these bacteria have extreme and unique features." (Whiteman 2009)

  Learn more about this functional adaptation.