Billions of cicadas will land in the Midwest this spring
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The year 2024 marks a historic year for Missouri. It started with the back-to-back Super Bowl win from the Kansas City Chiefs, then a partial solar-eclipse, and now, the highly-anticipated mass migration of cicadas in parts of the state.
This event is heralded as a historic moment in entomology — the study of insects and their relationship to humans, environments and other organisms — because, for the first time in 221 years, two broods of cicadas are emerging from their burrows at the same time.
Goat stuck under bridge near Kansas City Zoo
Background
According to the Strategic Communications Associate at the University of Missouri-Columbia College of Agriculture, Food and Resources, Linda Geist, these two periodical broods have not been seen together since 1803 and will arrive in the Midwest in the coming weeks.
A “brood”, according to the University of Connecticut, is a categorical name given to cicadas who emerge within the same year. This term uses a roman numeral system to classify the species.
“Any brood numbered XVII or less is a 17-year brood; a brood numbered from XVIII to XXX is a 13-year brood,” said the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology at Oklahoma State University.
These two classifications of periodical cicadas arrive within a 13-year period and a 17-year period, separately. This year, the 13-year Brood XIX and the 17-year Brood XII are making their historical and simultaneous debut in the Midwest, and possibly parts of Northeastern Missouri.
Woman wins $2 million on Missouri Lottery scratcher, shares financial plan
Broods typically come out on their own, at different times and in different places. For a 13 and 17-year brood to co-emerge, it takes 5 to 6 years. And for adjacent 13 and 17-year broods to co-emerge, it takes 25 years, according to the University of Connecticut.
However, this year’s event is the rarest of all cicada arrivals.
Both broods will be co-emerging at the same time and co-habiting the same space, which again, happens every two centuries.
According to Geist, “The last time these two particular broods emerged together was when Thomas Jefferson was president, decades before Missouri statehood.”
“The next event will be in the year 2245,” she said in a news release.
The life of a cicada
Periodical cicadas, also known as nymphs, have the longest life cycle of any known insect and are typically found in the Midwest and Southeast. They spend most of their 13 or 17-year lifespans underground eating plant roots until they dig their way to the surface and molt into their “winged adult form,” according to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.
This, of course, is only if they don’t get eaten by predators right away.
Geist described cicadas as using a “safety in numbers” approach. They emerge all at once, shed their skins on vertical posts and then head to the treetops where they mate, lay their eggs and sing their familiar summer song, only to die 4 to 6 weeks later.
Bonner Springs approves Star Bond District for ‘Destination KCK’ project
The eggs, however, survive in the tree until they hatch. After, they feed on tree sap for a short time and then fall to the ground, burrowing themselves in the soil for the next 13 or 17 years.
What can Missourians expect from this year’s “cicada-geddon?”
Unlike parts of Northern Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin, most of Missouri — unless in the Northeastern section near the Illinois border and potentially St. Louis — will not be witnessing the double-cicada brood.
But, even though we won’t see these rare creatures out-and-about in Kansas City, “cicada-geddon” will still make landfall — more appropriately, land-crawl — throughout Missouri.
According to Geist, Kansas City Horticulturalist and Entomologist Tamra Reall said, “Expect to see cicadas after a spring rain, and expect to see a lot of them – as many as 1.5 million per acre.”
Brood XIX — also known as “The Great Southern Brood” — last appeared in Missouri in 2011, and is what we will be seeing most in late-April and early-May.
Estimates for the amount of cicadas Missourians will be seeing this spring and summer are not specific. But, according to Geist, billions are expected across the Midwest.
Worlds of Fun has new discounted season tickets for kids: KidZpass
Although they look like something out of a sci-fi horror movie, cicadas are harmless and play a far greater role in the environment than just screaming on the ground and getting tangled up in your hair.
Specifically, the United States Environmental Protection Agency says cicadas help lawns by adding nutrients to the soil while they decompose. They also aerate the ground, aid in water filtration and act as a food source to birds and other animals.
So, as we transition into the warmer months, and April’s showers turn into hot and sunny days, prepare yourselves for a song-filled, cicada summer.
