In a rare occurrence, a trillion cicadas from two different broods are expected to begin appearing in the Midwest and Southeastern United States in late April.
It is the first time since 1803 that Brood XIX, or the Great Southern Brood, and Brood XIII, or the Northern Illinois Brood, will appear together in an event known as a double emergence.
Thomas Jefferson was president the last time the 17-year cycle of the Northern Illinois Brood aligned with the 13-year cycle of the Great Southern Brood. After this spring, it will be another 221 years before the groups, which are geographically adjacent, appear together again.
An area of about 16 states will be the epicenter for these periodic cicadas, which differ from those that occur annually in smaller numbers.
Wooded areas, including urban green spaces, are more likely to see higher numbers of cicadas than agricultural areas. To see how many of these bugs could appear, one trillion cicadas, each just over an inch long, would cover 15,782,828 miles if placed end to end, said Floyd W. Shockley, entomologist and director of collections. at the Smithsonian. National Museum of Natural History.
“This train of cicadas would go to the moon and back 33 times,” Dr Shockley said.
When do cicadas come out?
The first cicadas are expected to start appearing in late April. Temperature determines when they will emerge, said Gene Kritsky, a retired biology professor at Mount St. Joseph in Cincinnati, and author of several books on cicadas, including “A Tale of Two Broods.”
Professor Kritsky said that first the soil has to reach 64 degrees Fahrenheit, about six inches deep, and “then you get a good rain, and that’s when they really pop,” he said.
They will use their front legs to emerge from the earth, their red eyes looking for a spot where they can peacefully finish maturing. A few days after emerging and molting, the males will begin buzzing in an attempt to find a mate, a slow build crescendo of noise which as a dance may be louder than an airplane.
Where will it be;
The first waves of cicadas will emerge in northern Louisiana, southern Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, northern Georgia and as far west as South Carolina, Professor Kritsky said.
They will then appear in central North Carolina, eastern Tennessee and northern Arkansas, followed by southern Missouri, southern Illinois and western Kentucky. Finally, he said, cicadas will appear throughout central and northern Missouri and Illinois, northwestern Indiana, southern Wisconsin and eastern Iowa.
How long will the double emergence last?
The Midwest and Southeast should be buzzing for about six weeks.
In most cases, Dr. Shockley said, the cicadas, which live about a month, will die not far from where they emerged.
Are cicadas dangerous?
Cicadas do not bite or sting, nor do they carry disease. But because they’re “not great fliers and even worse landers,” cicadas often end up on sidewalks and city streets, where they can be squished by people or cars and “could potentially make things slick.”
“In urban areas, there will be a sufficient number to have to remove their bodies,” Dr Shockley said. “But instead of throwing them in the trash or cleaning them up with street sweepers, people should think of them as basically free fertilizer for plants in their gardens and natural areas.”
If you have a dog that likes to eat them, it’s not a good idea to let him pull the insects because it can lead to an intestinal blockage, Professor Kritsky said.
How can I get rid of cicadas?
The short answer is: You don’t. If you have sensitive plants that you want to protect, use special netting created for this purpose.
Bugs are beneficial to the environment, acting as natural tree gardeners. The holes they leave behind when they emerge from the ground help aerate the soil and allow rainwater to enter below ground and nourish tree roots in the hot summer months. The gashes they make in the trees can cause some branches to break and then the leaves turn brown in a process known as “flagging”, which is a type of natural pruning. When the branch grows back, the fruit it bears will tend to be larger. When they die, the rotting cicadas’ bodies provide nutrients that the trees need.
John R. Cooley, a professor of biology at the University of Connecticut, said his best advice for people living in the areas of the double appearance is to let the bugs be.
“The forest is where they live,” he said. “It’s part of the forest. Don’t try to kill them. Don’t try to spray insecticide, all of it. This will end badly because there are more than you could kill with insecticide. You’ll end up killing everything.”