In pics | Brood X cicadas emerge after living underground for 17 years
The bugs will be gone by around July 4 after the females lay eggs in tree branches. The eggs will hatch in July and August, the baby bugs will tumble to ground, burrow below the soil, feed off tree roots and stay hidden until 2038.
Associated Press
May 23, 2021 / 20:43 IST
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The cicada occupation is just getting started. Some of the red-eyed flying insects, which come out once every 17 years, have begun to emerge. But bug experts say you ain’t seen nothing yet. This is Brood X (as in the Roman numeral 10), one of the largest groups of periodic cicadas. Some places already are overloaded, with singing bugs covering walls and trees. Elsewhere, the ground hasn’t warmed enough for the cicadas to come out en masse. But come out they will — by the billions, if not trillions, in 15 states in the East and Midwest. When they emerge from the soil, they shed their exoskeletons on trees and walls, leaving husks in their wake. And they can go everywhere: trees, doorsteps, sidewalks, cars and even on people who don’t shoo them away. Here, an adult cicada flies from a clover flower in Washington on Wednesday, May 12, 2021. (Image: AP)
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The noise can sound like the soundtrack to a bad science fiction movie, but it’s actually the males’ mating call. The creatures are like hormone-hopped teenagers, said University of Maryland bug expert Mike Raupp, whose own neighborhood is already in full cicada explosion. But other places are still waiting for the chorus and the onslaught, especially if they are farther away from warmer cities, says University of Connecticut bug scientist John Cooley. (Image: AP)
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Some people are spooked by them. Other people, like Mike Raupp, eat them. Chefs have recipes. The University of Maryland has a cookbook if you are so inclined. Most of these bugs will get eaten, but not by people. Birds, snakes, dogs, cats and even ants can feast on them. Here, Dr Zoe Getman-Pickering, a postdoctoral scientist at George Washington University, walks through Woodend Sanctuary and Mansion with cicada shells in her hair, on Monday, May 17, 2021, in Chevy Chase, Maryland (Image: AP)
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A red-shouldered hawk holds a cicada nymph in its beak as it feeds in a lawn on Monday, May 17, 2021, in Columbia, Maryland. (Image: AP)
University of Connecticut bug scientist John Cooley says the spectacle is a sign that our ecosystem is still healthy despite climate change and biodiversity loss. These bugs have been coming out like this for millions of years. And the United States — with two small exceptions — is the only place that gets cicadas that come out every 17 or 13 years. Other places get them every year. Enjoy or fear them while you can. (Image: AP)
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A cicada that failed to completely shed its nymph shell spreads its wings on the base of a tree in Chevy Chase, Maryland on Monday, May 10, 2021. (Image: AP)
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Black carpenter ants devour a cicada as it tries to shed its nymph shell in Chevy Chase, on Thursday, May 13, 2021. (Image: AP)
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The bugs will be gone by around July 4, after the females lay eggs in tree branches. The eggs will hatch in July and August, the baby bugs will tumble to ground, burrow below the soil, feed off tree roots and stay hidden until 2038. (Image: AP)
An adult cicada's wings are seen just after it shed its nymph shell, early Wednesday on May 5, 2021, on the University of Maryland campus in College Park, Maryland. (Image: AP)
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Adult cicadas cover a plant on Monday, May 17, 2021, at Woodend Sanctuary and Mansion, in Chevy Chase, Maryland. (Image: AP)
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Cicadas, adults and nymphs shedding their shells cling to a flowering plant in a garden in Columbia, Maryland, on May 17, 2021. (Image: AP)
