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Two broods of periodical cicadas are emerging simultaneously for the first time in 221 years.
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Broods XIII and XIX overlap in a small part of Illinois, around Chicago.
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People can help scientists keep track of these insects using citizen science apps.
2024 is the year of the chicadapocalypse.
That’s because two broods of periodic cicadas – Broods XIII and XIX – will emerge from their burrows at the same time for the first time in 221 years.
The last time the two broods met, Lewis and Clark started their way through territories recently acquired through the Louisiana Purchase, the US Supreme Court heard the landmark case Marbury v. Madison, and Thomas Jefferson was president.
Hype over the red-eyed insects Yes reached social mediawhere commentators are both disappointed and excited about potential encounters with the two-cicada hawks.
“What sign of the apocalypse are we on again?” quipped one user on Instagram.
“Leap year, cicadas, AND an election year? Don’t forget if I can do it,” said one commenter on Instagram.
Fortunately for those preparing to spend spring in their basement, the two periodic cicada broods won’t overlap—by much.
Brood XIX will be seen mostly in southern states, and Brood XIII will be seen in a small part of the Midwest – mainly Illinois.
One part of Illinois will see an overlap. That’s where cicada hunter Gene Kritsky, along with his wife Jessee Smith, will be making one this year – along with many other cicada sites – to make their appearance.
“I’ve been mapping cicadas since 1976. I’m that old,” Kritsky told Business Insider. “I’m going up to the Chicago region – I’ll be there the first weekend in June – where I’ll be lecturing and doing some hikes at the Lake County conservation area.”
Kritsky, author, is a professor at Mount St. Joseph, and creator of Cicada Safari, an app that crowdsources cicada photos for scientific research, is excited to see cicadas again this year after last year’s stragglers. He knows, however, how polarizing the insect can be, online and offline.
That’s because they show up in thousands, make a lot of noise, and their crushed remains can even be a danger to drivers by making roads slippery. Sometimes, they can damage young trees by trying to lay their eggs in them.
However, cicadas are harmless and do not hurt people or animals.
“I’ve helped people plan vacations to where the cicadas are emerging,” Kritsky said. “I’ve helped people plan vacations to be outside of where they’re coming from. So there’s both extremes of that.”
Unlike annual cicadas, periodical cicadas spend years in their underground chambers like brooding teenagers (is that why they are called brooding?) in 13 or 17 year cycles. For the first two emerging broods, Brood XIII emerges every 17 years, and Brood XIX emerges every 13 years.
There are 15 broods in the United States – 12 are 17-year broods, and three are 13-year broods. Kritsky said this means there have been other cases of two broods appearing at the same time recently.
“In 1998, we had a 17-year brood come out with a 13-year brood,” Kritsky said. “So this happens. It’s probably happened 12 times, at least, in the last 200 years.”
However, that does not mean that the periodical cicadas – which have evolved in the millions – are not a sight.
Life cicada periodical
Periodical cicadas, a red-eyed insect with a black body and orange rings, spend most of their lives just inches below the dirt, under trees. It gets a little cold at that depth, about 56 degrees Fahrenheit, so they don’t move around much. The cicada nymphs tunnel around and live off the sap of tree roots. Kritsky told BI that many live near parks and cemeteries in suburban areas because they are drawn to “mature trees, in full sun, with low vegetation.”
This is their life for 13 to 17 years until it is time to reproduce. Scientists don’t know exactly how they determine how many years have passed, but evidence shows that they keep track of the seasons by sensing the flow of tree sap.
When the time comes, they emerge in late spring, when the soil temperature reaches about 65 degrees. This happens at different times in different places between the end of April and the beginning of June. Depending on the temperature, Kritsky said Brood XIII could appear in early June or late May. Brood XIX, also known as the Great Southern Brood, could be seen as early as April.
The cicadas are usually seen at night. Males will make their way out for the first few days, climbing trees, followed by females. The early days of freedom are all about shedding their old skeleton and hardening their new skeleton to maturity. Then it’s time to meet.
To attract a mate, male cicadas use an organ in their body that creates a vibrating buzz-like sound. This is probably what people recognize most about cicadas because they can get loud – like a lawnmower running loudly.
If a woman is involved in the call, they will turn together. The female then searches for trees in brighter areas, finds tiny twigs at the end of the branches, cuts into them, and lays between 400-600 eggs. If they run out of room on one twig, they will fly to another, Kritsky said.
Once they have completed their mission, adult cicadas soon die. In about six weeks, the eggs hatch from the trees, fall to the ground, and burrow into the ground to start the cycle again.
Crowdsourcing has changed the cicada game
Before Cicada Safari existed, Kritsky said the highest number of cicada records was about 8,000 records of cicada sites. His research teams have received over half a million records since 2019, thanks to thousands of cicada enthusiasts who submitted photos. Kritsky said it helped cicada scientists more accurately understand the distribution of periodic cicadas.
“We found records from areas where cicadas had never been reported before, not because they weren’t there, but nobody knew who to report it to,” Kritsky said.
The app also helped researchers see new patterns emerge. Smaller swaths of periodical chickadees typically emerge four years earlier in a phenomenon that scientists are still trying to figure out. Later, however, scientists noticed cicadas emerging a year earlier.
In 2023, researchers like Kritsky were able to record these patterns – which could indicate changes due to climate change – thanks to the observations of citizen scientists.
But more than that, the app, Kritsky said, encouraged people to connect with family and friends over cicadas.
“You can mark your life by the emergence of a cicada that you remembered,” said Kritsky.
Read the original article on Business Insider
