(FOX5) – Brood X, the largest and most widespread brood of cicadas in the U.S., is set to emerge from the ground this spring after 17 years. The periodical cicadas, which are different than the annual cicadas seen throughout the U.S. each year, last emerged in 2004.
Beginning in mid-May, they will likely appear in 15 states: Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia, along with Washington, D.C., according to Cicada Mania, a website that tracks cicada life cycles.
There are several species of periodical cicadas that emerge in different years, classified by scientists as different “broods.” Each brood is isolated in a certain region and only emerges in 13 or 17-year cycles, according to Michigan State University entomologist Gary Parsons.
The cicadas spend most of their lives underground feeding on sap from tree roots. Brood X will begin to emerge once the ground reaches about 64 degrees Fahrenheit, experts say. It’s believed that the periodical cicadas’ 13-or 17-year cycles have happened for millions of years.
“It is thought that by having the long life cycles, cicadas have prevented predators from specifically targeting them for food. Then by emerging in the millions all at once, they are too numerous for any predators that do eat them from ever wiping them out. There are so many of them that lots of them will always survive,” Parsons wrote. READ MORE
