The Guardian: ‘A remarkable phenomenon’: billions of cicadas set to emerge across eastern US

"Billions of cicadas that have spent 17 years underground are set to emerge across large areas of the eastern US, bringing swarming numbers and loud mating calls to major towns and cities.

The periodic cicadas – bugs with strikingly red eyes, black bodies and orange wings – burrow underground as nymphs and suck fluids from the roots of plants as they grow, eventually bursting into the open as adults in mass synchronized events.

The last such event for 15 states including New York, Ohio, Illinois and Georgia occurred in 2004. The cicadas emerge in a 17-year cycle, meaning they will appear this year once temperatures are warm enough, expected to be mid-May."

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/26/cicadas-emerge-eastern-us 

Cicada Tracking

An interesting site appeared on my reading radar thanks to the folks at UniversalHub; Massachusetts Cicadas.

Living in Massachusetts, unfortunately, there aren't many species of Cicadas to study so this site will be focused on studying the cicadas of New England along taking part in field trips to other states and studying the cicadas there.

So far, I have managed to document several different species of Cicadas in Massachusetts. Those being Tibicen auletes, Tibicen lyricen, Tibicen canicularis, Tibicen chloromera and Okanagana rimosa. Massachusetts even has Periodical Cicadas from Brood XIV which is a 17 year variety.

Since 2004, Okanagana rimosa has proved to be an elusive little insect. Fortunately, in the summer of 2007 shortly after my return trip from the mid west to study Brood XIII periodical cicadas, I did in fact find a sustainable population of Okanagana rimosa in a town in central Massachusetts known as Montague. More information on this interesting periodic-like little insect can be found here.

Also Brood XIV periodical Cicadas, a species of Cicadas that emerge once every 17 years also makes an appearance in Massachusetts along Cape Cod, Barnstable Plymouth counties. These are not scheduled to appear here until 2008.

So if you would like to know more about cicadas in MA and New England, visit this site.