Latest news with #emergence
Fox News
4 days ago
- Climate
- Fox News
America's second-largest cicada swarm is about to emerge across the East Coast
The low hum of summer typically includes lawnmowers and sizzling burgers — and this year, it may be the sound of cicadas. This year's brood of insects may be the second-biggest ever. Two types of cicadas commonly exist in the Eastern United States: annual cicadas, which emerge every year, and periodical cicadas, which emerge every 13 or 17 years, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The insects reside primarily in trees and shrubs. Broods are a way of categorizing cicadas based on this pattern, and less of a biological trait. Because broods emerge in different areas, places that had cicadas last year may not have them this year, according to Dr. John R. Cooley, associate professor-in-residence of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Connecticut. Brood XIV is referred to as a "keystone" brood, Cooley told Fox News Digital. It is the second-largest behind Brood XIX, the "Great Southern Brood," which last emerged in 2024 in 15 states from Oklahoma to Maryland. While there is another "Great Eastern Brood" – Brood X, which emerged in 2021 – Brood XIV is larger, and could thus be considered the "Great(er) Eastern Brood." Brood XIV will emerge in states ranging from Georgia all the way up to New York, according to the University of Connecticut. "Once an emergence gets going, it lasts about a month, depending on the weather," Cooley said. "It seems like the weather this year has been quite strange — the emergence is well underway in North Carolina, but further north, because of the cold weather, it hasn't even really started yet in Pennsylvania," he added. Adult cicadas climb into trees and shrubs to mate, and then females deposit their eggs onto small twigs. The babies, called nymphs, hatch from these eggs after six weeks and fall to the ground. They then burrow into the soil and begin feeding on the roots of trees and shrubs to restart the cicada lifecycle, according to the EPA. Cicadas will not eat leaves, flowers, fruits or garden produce, so it is not necessary to take special precautions to cover or apply additional insecticides in your garden, the above source stated. For more Lifestyle articles, visit "People should keep in mind that what they are seeing is unique — there is no other place in the world where such a thing happens, and they are found only in the U.S.," Cooley pointed out. The EPA also notes that cicadas don't bite or sting, and they are not harmful to humans, pets, household gardens or crops.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
WJHL Rewind
WASHINGTON COUNTY, Tenn. (WJHL) — Viewers in the region are beginning to see and hear a brood of cicadas laid as eggs 17 years ago in 2008. Adult cicadas live above ground for only three to four weeks. They do not sting or bite, and are harmless to pets and humans. Once they emerge, cicadas do not feed on foliage. Brood XIV's eggs will not emerge until 2042. 17-year brood of cicadas expected to emerge in East Tennessee in a few weeks Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Gizmodo
06-05-2025
- Science
- Gizmodo
The Next Wave of 17-Year Cicadas Is About to Party, Scream, and Die
Brood XIV will emerge this summer to overwhelm predators, shake up ecosystems, and terrify everyone with eardrums. A special brood of cicadas—an ancient lineage of the periodical insects—is set to burst from the soil this May and June, covering more of the United States than any other 17-year brood. These bugs—collectively known as Brood XIV—have been biding their time underground since the last Bush administration, biding their time and counting the years go by. Now they're back with two goals: Get loud and get laid. This isn't just any swarm. Brood XIV is considered the original brood, from which all other 17-year cicada broods split off, according to YaleEnvironment360. This is the motherlode of massive, crunchy, droning insects. For a few wild weeks to come, the skies will fill with their raspy mating calls, as the insects rise up simultaneously. The synchronized emergence isn't just for flair. It's a numbers game: By surfacing in the billions, cicadas overwhelm their predators—birds, squirrels, snakes, you name it—who are so sated by the plenty that the cicadas' arrival sends waves through the food chain. When cicadas emerge, populations of cuckoos, blue jays, and some woodpecker species swell. But not all the effects are good: Because the birds are busy eating cicadas, caterpillar populations can go unchecked, allowing those bugs to damage oak trees to a greater degree. Most of the insects will get eaten, but enough will survive to keep the brood going. Once the survivors lay their eggs—their purpose fulfilled—they die. The brood's tiny offspring disappear underground for another 17 years, from which they will rise again in 2041. The cicadas are expected to appear as far west as Kansas, as far north as Wisconsin and Michigan, down through the Mississippi Delta to New Orleans, and along much of the East Coast from Georgia and South Carolina up to Connecticut. You can review a detailed map of broods, including where they historically have emerged and are expected to emerge again, at this University of Connecticut site. And as with everything else these days, climate change could be messing with the cicada clock. A Japanese study found that warming temperatures are pushing some cicadas to emerge earlier in the year. Over time, hotter conditions might even shrink their 17-year underground snooze. But those are longer term forecasts, and Brood XIV's timing is imminent. In the next weeks, if you hear droning and you're not near a construction site, there's no need to panic: It's just billions of bugs on a once-in-a-generation bender.
