Posted4/5/2021 5:30 AM
For months, the billions of Brood X cicadas expected this spring have been making headlines. But their arrival in east central Illinois and other states won t disrupt life in the suburbs, which is good news for those who prefer outdoor celebrations unaccompanied by cacophonous mating calls.
The suburbs, however, are getting only a temporary reprieve: The Northern Illinois Brood, known as Brood XIII, will emerge in 2024. With that brood which scientists say consists of more cicadas per acre than anywhere else the chorus from millions of cicadas could be deafening, according to Fredric Miller, senior scientist of entomology at Lisle s Morton Arboretum.
They’ve been sucking sap for 17 years and now these five-eyed insects are about to make their way to the surface. From the East Coast to the Midwest, Cicada Brood X, will take to the trees and sing their mating song.
Each female will lay hundreds of eggs in the tree branches - and then the adult cicadas will die. Once the eggs hatch, new cicadas fall from the trees and burrow back underground, starting the cycle again, sucking the sap from tree roots until they’re ready to surface and mate.
There are thousands of species of cicadas located around the world; some show up every year, others only every 13 or 17 years.