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When a critter spends 17 years underground, it's not easy to study. So as Brood X cicadas break out, they're followed closely by researchers who must cram a lot of work in about six weeks.
: : Josh Pulliam and other researchers from Jake Socha's lab at Virginia Tech drove from Blacksburg, Va., to the northern part of the state and spent days collecting and studying Brood X cicadas. Millions upon millions of Brood X cicadas are emerging, and entomologist Marianne Alleyne didn't want to miss it. "I didn't see it 17 years ago, and I wanted to experience it," says Alleyne. "My brother-in-law actually put it perfectly: 'This is your entomology Woodstock, isn't it?'" Brood X isn't the only group of cicadas that spends nearly two decades underground, but it is the ...