Brood XIX and Brood XIII will both emerge this spring. The last time these bugs showed up at the same time in the United States, Thomas Jefferson was president.
The cicadas are coming — and if you’re in the Midwest or the Southeast, they will be more plentiful than ever. Or at least since the Louisiana Purchase.
This spring, for the first time since 1803, two cicada groups known as Brood XIX, or the Great Southern Brood, and Brood XIII, or the Northern Illinois Brood, are set to appear at the same time, in what is known as a dual emergence.
The last time the Northern Illinois Brood’s 17-year cycle aligned with the Great Southern Brood’s 13-year period, Thomas Jefferson was president. After this spring, it’ll be another 221 years before the broods, which are geographically adjacent, appear together again.
“Nobody alive today will see it happen again,” said Floyd W. Shockley, an entomologist and collections manager at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. “That’s really rather humbling.”
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I genuinely love the cacophony of cicadas and I live in the Midwest so I’m thrilled for this!
“The world hasn’t seen” talks about a US-only thing Sigh…
It is only the North American genus Magicicada which has 17 and 13-year cycles, so yes, this is something the world hasn’t seen since 1803. Because it happens nowhere else in the world.
Is this bad?
No, they’re harmless and they don’t even do much damage to plants because they mostly eat plant fluid in twigs, which trees and bushes usually survive just fine, even with a huge number of cicadas on them.
They’re just a big mess.
No, they don’t cause damage on their own. Birds get a windfall of big nutritious bugs. Humans might be a little creeped out.
Plus everywhere you go sounds like one of those old sci fi movies
I ate one once. 5/10, would be better deep fried.
Dehydrated and seasoned.
Oh God the noise will be deafening. 😬
Mawp
I wonder if climate change will have dented their number. Large swaths of North America have been hit by unprecedented, multi-year droughts thanks to Climate Change. Trees under severe stress and unable to properly support sapsucking insects over multiple years may have killed off many cicada grubs.
What is the best weapon against this insurgence?
Ear plugs.
Yes, it’s important to wear protection when operating the Gatling turrets
Keanu Reeves remembers it like it was yesterday
Nic Cage too
Now people will know what having tinnitus is like!
Emm, with the climate change and pollution, should we panic if they don’t show up?
