Brood X Cicadas Have Started Emerging For The First Time In 17 Years

Brood x Cicadas have started emerging for the first time in 17 years. Parts of the Eastern U.S. are witnessing thousands of cicadas tunneling out from their underground homes for mating season. They spend their whole lives underground and feast on sap from tree roots, then in the spring of their 13th or 17th year they emerge for a brief adult stage, shed their exoskeletons, inflate their wings, wait for their shells to harden then begin mating.

Michigan State University Entomologist Gary Parsons said  “They may amass in parks, woods, neighborhoods and can seemingly be everywhere, when they are this abundant, they fly, land and crawl everywhere, including occasionally landing on humans.”  States affected by this years boom include Georgia, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York and many others.