This spring, millions of noisy, red-eyed cicadas from Brood XIV will blanket parts of the United States for the first time since 2008, when George W. Bush was in the White House and Donald Trump was hosting “The Apprentice.”
The bugs come in two varieties, annual and periodical. This year’s cicadas are members of the second largest periodical group after Brood XIX, which surfaced last year in parts of the American Midwest and South. Brood XIV, also known as the Great(er) Eastern Brood, is larger than Brood X, the group that overtook the D.C. region in 2021.
While the District will be spared from this year’s cicada blitz, at least 13 states — including Maryland and Virginia — will be overrun by Brood XIV.
Both annual and periodical cicadas spend most of their lives underground. Young cicadas, known as nymphs, burrow into the earth to escape cold weather and feed on tree roots. The difference is how long they spend there.
Annual cicadas, which have black or green eyes, emerge every year. These include dark-bodied swamp cicadas found in swamps and marshes in the eastern part of the United States.
Advertisement
Periodical cicadas, which have fire-engine red eyes, emerge in 13- or 17-year intervals. Three broods come out every 13 years, and 12 come out every 17 years.
Scientists are still working to understand these insects — including why, in rare cases, some periodical cicadas have blue eyes.
Brood XIV will surface in at least 13 states this spring: Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Advertisement
Brood XIV cicadas will likely surface in the warmer states in late April or May, and the cooler states in May or early June, according to the University of Connecticut.
Like its periodical cousins, Brood XIV’s members will have two priorities when they emerge this year: eating and mating.
Cicada nymphs emerge from the ground in the spring or summer, when the soil reaches about 64 degrees. The nymphs then climb up the nearest vertical object — a tree or a fence post — and molt into their adult form.
Adult cicadas live aboveground for three to four weeks and spend their short lives eating and trying to mate, according to the National Museum of Natural History. Male cicadas are known for their signature sound: a loud, high-pitched, high-decibel buzz used to attract female cicadas. They make this noise by vibrating a membrane called tymbals on the sides of their abdomen.
After mating, female cicadas make grooves in tree branches, where they lay their eggs. The eggs hatch six to seven weeks later, and the translucent nymphs, each about the size of a grain of rice, drop to the ground and burrow into the soil to grow. When they later emerge, the cycle begins anew.
In 2024, two broods surfaced simultaneously: Broods XIX and XIII.
Brood XIX cicadas, which are spread across the Midwest and the Southeast, come out of the ground every 13 years. Brood XIII cicadas, which are mostly concentrated in Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin, emerge every 17 years.
The last time these broods co-emerged was in 1803.