Cicada Brood IX and XIII Emergence in Southeast, Midwest US

Videos capturing the loud humming sounds made by cicadas have already surfaced on social media as two different broods are predicted to swarm specific regions of the southeast and Midwest United States this year. With billions, if not trillions, of these insects preparing for a frenzied mating ritual that will last several weeks before they eventually die off, their legacy continues with newly laid eggs on forest floors. This occurrence marks the first time in 221 years where both brood IX and XIII emerge from beneath the earth at once – an event which occurred during Thomas Jefferson’s presidency and is not expected to happen again until 2244. Most cicada species come out annually, but two distinct periodical groups that reside underground for either 13 or 17 years have been identified in America. Brood XIII appears every 17 years and primarily affects northern Illinois, eastern Iowa, southern Wisconsin, and a few counties of extreme northwestern Indiana. In contrast, brood XIX emerges after 13 years and is distributed across Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia – covering a total of fifteen states in all. The two broods’ simultaneous appearance spans seventeen different US states. Although the emergence is not synchronised, it began in April for southern regions and will commence in June for more northerly zones later this month or early next year as Shockley has said about entomology at Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History’s Washington office.