By Sherri Blevins
The last time this event occurred was in 1803, and after this occurrence, it won’t happen again until 2245. What, you might ask – the emergence of one trillion cicadas this year.
Cicadas are large insects with a stout body, a wide blunt head, and long transparent wings. The male cicada makes a loud, shrill, droning noise by vibrating two membranes on its abdomen. According to Merriam-Webster, American cicadas produce rhythmical ticks, buzzes, or whines, though the ‘song’ of some species is musical.
Periodic cicadas usually appear from underground in cycles. Periodic cicadas spend most of their lives underground before emerging as a group together. The cycles can be every thirteen or seventeen years. This year, however, Brood XIII and Brood XIX will appear at the same time. This is the first time it has happened since Thomas Jefferson was president. According to Sarah Kuta at smithsonianmag.com, “Any pair of broods may occasionally overlap and emerge in the same year. But these specific groups—Brood XIII (also known as the Northern Illinois Brood) and Brood XIX (or the Great Southern Brood)—only appear simultaneously once every 221 years, making 2024 an especially exciting period for entomologists and bug enthusiasts alike.”
Kuta says that scientists estimate more than one trillion cicadas will be buzzing around a sixteen-state area, with the largest number surfacing in forested regions and urban green spaces. She says that lined up end-to-end, one trillion cicadas would span 15,782,823 miles, which would cover the distance to the moon and back thirty-three times.
What will the event look like? Kuta explained that once they crawl onto the surface, the nymphs will ditch their exoskeletons—leaving crunchy cicada-shaped shells in their wake—and start flapping their wings. They’ll spend the next six weeks or so making their cacophonous mating calls so they can lay their eggs before they die. In the meantime, they’ll also provide a buffet for birds—and give caterpillars a brief respite from predation in the process. Later, when the cicada eggs hatch, nymphs will emerge and tunnel underground to start the broods’ cycles anew.
The broods are predicted to emerge in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Wisconsin, and Virginia.
What should people living in the areas do? Kuta reported that scientists recommend that people living in the emergence zones should leave the cicadas alone—and, if possible, cherish this once-in-a-lifetime spectacle. Cicadas don’t carry diseases, bite, or sting, and their presence benefits the broader ecosystem. For example, when they tunnel up from underground, they help aerate the soil. When they shed their exoskeletons and, later, die, their bodies provide nutrients to plants. They also naturally prune trees when laying eggs in their branches.
Get ready for a noisy yet exciting once-in-a-lifetime event this spring. Bring on the cicadas.
