Parts of the U.S. are about to be covered in this weird bug

Billions of cicadas from two different broods are set to emerge from their hiding spots in the ground before the end of April in a rare event that has not happened in hundreds of years. But what are these bugs and are they dangerous?

Cicadas are a mostly beneficial insect that also have extraordinary life cycles according to the National Wildlife Federation. These bugs spend most of their lifespan—which can be anywhere from 13 to 17 years—in their larva form underground. 

They feed on fluids from plant roots until they reach adulthood and emerge in the spring to live above the surface for a few weeks before dying. Their rather predictable lifespan has allowed etymologies to sort out when a brood will emerge. 

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“Adult periodical cicadas are black from above and orange underneath. They have bright red eyes and clear, membranous wings with black veins,” explained the National Wildlife Federation about a periodical cicada’s appearance.

The staggered life cycles of broods lead some to emerge more often than others but it also means that there are sometimes very rare occurrences when two different broods of cicadas will emerge from the ground at the same time. 

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A rare double brood emergence will occur across parts of the United States in 2024 but it's a lot more intriguing than that. This specific pairing of cicada broods hasn’t emerged together for hundreds of years according to the New York Times. 

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Spring 2024 will be the first time since 1803 that Brood XIX, the Great Southern Brood, and Brood XIII, the Northern Illinois Brood, will appear together in an event so rare that it won’t happen again for another 221 years. 

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“Thomas Jefferson was president the last time that the Northern Illinois Brood’s 17-year cycle aligned with the Great Southern Brood’s 13-year period,” wrote Aimee Ortiz of the  New York Times. But this dual emergence is also more significant than you think. 

The Great Southern Brood appears every 13 years while the Northern Illinois Brood is on a 17-year emergence cycle. However, the Great Southern Brood is the largest of all periodical cicada broods CNN reported. This will make the dual emergence a big event. 

“It’s rare that we see this size of double brood emergence,” said University of Kentucky extension enzymologist and associate professor Dr. Jonathan Larson. “We’re talking about an absolute oddity of nature, one of America’s coolest insects.”

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It's difficult to put into perspective just how many cicadas will emerge this spring in the United States but the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History entomologist Floyd W. Shockley said it could be nearly one trillion. 

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At just over an inch long, the number of cicadas set to begin emerging from the ground could cover nearly sixteen miles or roughly twenty-six kilometers if placed end to end. “That cicada train would reach the moon and back 33 times,” Dr. Shockley said.

Northern Illinois Brood will emerge mostly in Wisconsin and Illinois, as well as in the top right corner of Indiana while the Great Southern Brood will be seen mostly in Illinois and Missouri, but also in most of the southern states from North Carolina to Arkansas. 

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The Midwest and Southern United States will only be buzzing with the sounds of these cicada broods for about six weeks. Most of the bugs will only live about a month before they die according to Dr. Shockley. 

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It’s important to point out that cicadas are not dangerous and pose no risk to humans, so there won’t be any damaging cicada apocalypse. Cicadas don’t bite and they also don’t carry any diseases so you don’t need to be afraid if you encounter one. 

“It’s something that no one alive today has ever seen and no one alive today will ever see again,” Jim Louderman, a collections assistant at the Field Museum in Chicago, said according to NBC News. “For entomologists, it’s a really, really huge deal.”

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