Anyone Else Completely Freaked Out By This?

Or is it just me?

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WASHINGTON -- Any day now, billions of cicadas with bulging red eyes will crawl out of the earth after 17 years underground and overrun the East Coast. They will arrive in such numbers that people from North Carolina to Connecticut will be outnumbered roughly 600-to-1. Maybe more.

But ominous as that sounds - along with scientists' horror-movie name for the infestation, Brood II - they're harmless. These insects won't hurt you or other animals. At worst, they might damage a few saplings or young shrubs. Mostly they will blanket certain pockets of the region, though lots of people won't ever see them.

(MORE: What Makes Cicadas So Loud?)

"It's not like these hordes of cicadas suck blood or zombify people," says May Berenbaum, a University of Illinois entomologist.

They're looking for just one thing: sex. And they've been waiting quite a long time.

Since 1996, this group of 1-inch bugs, in wingless nymph form, has been a few feet underground, sucking on tree roots and biding their time. They will emerge only when the ground temperature reaches precisely 64 degrees. After a few weeks up in the trees, they will die and their offspring will go underground, not to return until 2030.

"It's just an amazing accomplishment," Berenbaum says. "How can anyone not be impressed?"

“There will be some places where it's wall-to-wall cicadas.”
Mike Raupp, University of Maryland entomologist

And they will make a big racket, too. The noise all the male cicadas make when they sing for sex can drown out your own thoughts, and maybe even rival a rock concert. In 2004, Gene Kritsky, an entomologist at the College of Mount St. Joseph in Cincinnati, measured cicadas at 94 decibels, saying it was so loud "you don't hear planes flying overhead."

There are ordinary cicadas that come out every year around the world, but these are different. They're called magicicadas - as in magic - and are red-eyed. And these magicicadas are seen only in the eastern half of the United States, nowhere else in the world.

There are 15 U.S. broods that emerge every 13 or 17 years, so that nearly every year, some place is overrun. Last year it was a small area, mostly around the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee. Next year, two places get hit: Iowa into Illinois and Missouri; and Louisiana and Mississippi. And it's possible to live in these locations and actually never see them.

This year's invasion, Brood II, is one of the bigger ones. Several experts say that they really don't have a handle on how many cicadas are lurking underground but that 30 billion seems like a good estimate. At the Smithsonian Institution, researcher Gary Hevel thinks it may be more like 1 trillion.

Even if it's merely 30 billion, if they were lined up head to tail, they'd reach the moon and back.

"There will be some places where it's wall-to-wall cicadas," says University of Maryland entomologist Mike Raupp.

Strength in numbers is the key to cicada survival: There are so many of them that the birds can't possibly eat them all, and those that are left over are free to multiply, Raupp says.

But why only every 13 or 17 years? Some scientists think they come out in these odd cycles so that predators can't match the timing and be waiting for them in huge numbers. Another theory is that the unusual cycles ensure that different broods don't compete with each other much.

(MORE: Cicada Invasion Approaching)

And there's the mystery of just how these bugs know it's been 17 years and time to come out, not 15 or 16 years.

"These guys have evolved several mathematically clever tricks," Raupp says. "These guys are geniuses with little tiny brains."

Past cicada invasions have seen as many as 1.5 million bugs per acre. Of course, most places along the East Coast won't be so swamped, and some places, especially in cities, may see zero, says Chris Simon of the University of Connecticut. For example, Staten Island gets this brood of cicadas, but the rest of New York City and Long Island don't, she says. The cicadas also live beneath the metro areas of Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington.

Scientists and ordinary people with a bug fetish travel to see them. Thomas Jefferson once wrote about an invasion of this very brood at Monticello, his home in Virginia.

The Weather Channel meteorologist Reynolds Wolf says that cicadas are a fisherman's friend.

"[They are] a lot of fun when fly fishing -- trout tend to key in on these bugs," Wolf said. "Cicadas are loaded with protein."

While they stay underground, the bugs aren't asleep. They go through different growth stages and molt four times before ever getting to the surface. They are some of the world's longest-lived insects. They drink up a low-protein tree fluid called xylum, which isn't essential to the tree. Then they go aboveground, where they molt, leaving behind a crusty brown shell, and grow a half-inch bigger.

“These guys are geniuses with little tiny brains.”
Mike Raupp, University of Maryland entomologist

The timing of when they first come out depends purely on ground temperature. That means early May for southern areas and late May or even June for northern areas.

The males come out first - think of it as getting to the singles bar early, Raupp says. They come out first as nymphs, which are essentially wingless and silent juveniles, climb on to tree branches and molt one last time, becoming adult winged cicadas. They perch on tree branches and sing, individually or in a chorus. Then when a female comes close, the males change their song, they do a dance and mate, he explained.

The males keep mating ("That's what puts the `cad' in `cicada,'" Raupp jokes) and eventually the female lays 600 or so eggs on the tip of a branch. The offspring then dive-bomb out of the trees, bounce off the ground and eventually burrow into the earth, he says.

"It's a treacherous, precarious life," Raupp says. "But somehow they make it work."

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.

Anyone Else Completely Freaked Out By This?

I am in Staten Island and I was grossed out the last time these things were around. I am dreading them this year. I have a major bug phobia!

Re: Anyone Else Completely Freaked Out By This?

I'm really excited for it!

Re: Anyone Else Completely Freaked Out By This?

Re: Anyone Else Completely Freaked Out By This?

I am actually a little curious. I read somewhere that the South Shore of Long Island could see a high population of them.

Re: Anyone Else Completely Freaked Out By This?

are you purposely reading about these just to freak yourself out?

this one did say that NYC and LI won't see much, which should give you some comfort right?

don't think about them.. they're either not coming or they are and there's nothing you can do. Don't dwell on it!

or stay indoors for the next 2 months

Re: Anyone Else Completely Freaked Out By This?

Posted by Bearcat

Posted by PearlJamChick

I'm really excited for it!

Good. You can come to my house with your cat army and take care of all the cicadas.

BTW - I know this article says that LI won't be affected, but there were a few others I read that did not say that - not sure who's right.

Re: Anyone Else Completely Freaked Out By This?

Posted by PearlJamChick

Posted by Bearcat

Posted by PearlJamChick

I'm really excited for it!

Good. You can come to my house with your cat army and take care of all the cicadas.

BTW - I know this article says that LI won't be affected, but there were a few others I read that did not say that - not sure who's right.

I really am excited. I love the sound they make...the louder, the better! My coworker is already shitting bricks over the idea of it.

Let me know when the cat army should report for duty.

IMAGE

Re: Anyone Else Completely Freaked Out By This?

I love cicadas!

I read a book in elementary school a loooong time ago about a kid who collected them, and it fascinated me. They don't bother me at all, and I love the sound they make.

Re: Anyone Else Completely Freaked Out By This?

Posted by PearlJamChick

Posted by Bearcat

Posted by PearlJamChick

I'm really excited for it!

Good. You can come to my house with your cat army and take care of all the cicadas.

BTW - I know this article says that LI won't be affected, but there were a few others I read that did not say that - not sure who's right.

I really am excited. I love the sound they make...the louder, the better! My coworker is already shitting bricks over the idea of it.

Let me know when the cat army should report for duty.

IMAGE

Re: Anyone Else Completely Freaked Out By This?

I live in the Lower Hudson Valley.

I am completely freaked out and will try to leave my house as little as possible.

I'm completely serious.

Re: Anyone Else Completely Freaked Out By This?

Posted by MrsProfessor

I live in the Lower Hudson Valley.

I am completely freaked out and will try to leave my house as little as possible.

I'm completely serious.

Re: Anyone Else Completely Freaked Out By This?

I just get freaked out by how they are everywhere. But I know they are harmless, and it's cool how loud they all get.

We just had an invasion less than five years ago, so I didn't expect another one so soon. I'm assuming it's not going to happen by me.

Re: Anyone Else Completely Freaked Out By This?

last time they were around, I didnt see any here on LI but I did take a trip to Virginia....and OMG it was HORRIBLE!

Driving we were getting smacked evey few min by them. Guts all over windshield! one got stuck in the wiper and his red beady eyes were staring at me

We stopped to eat and getting out of the car they were everywhere! one landed on my sis in law. I ran!
I ran to the car!!


it was pure torture!

Re: Anyone Else Completely Freaked Out By This?

Posted by Smileyd17

last time they were around, I didnt see any here on LI but I did take a trip to Virginia....and OMG it was HORRIBLE!

Driving we were getting smacked evey few min by them. Guts all over windshield! one got stuck in the wiper and his red beady eyes were staring at me

We stopped to eat and getting out of the car they were everywhere! one landed on my sis in law. I ran!
I ran to the car!!


it was pure torture!

Anyone Else Completely Freaked Out By This?

100% freaked out!

Re: Anyone Else Completely Freaked Out By This?

Yes, I am dreading it. I remember them one summer when I was a kid and they were so loud! I hated finding the skeletons all over our deck and trees when they shed. Ugh!

Re: Anyone Else Completely Freaked Out By This?

Ok now I'm freaked out. How bad is this going to be? I live in VA.

Re: Anyone Else Completely Freaked Out By This?

Ugh I hated them. I can actually remember playing baseball and being attacked. The little boys hit them with baseball bats. For some reason they fly right at people.

But, I am not freaked out. I just don't like them.

Re: Anyone Else Completely Freaked Out By This?

I don't remember them being in groups like this!

Not my pic... got this from NBC News. I think it's from somewhere in the south.

Anyone Else Completely Freaked Out By This?

So they basically stick to trees?

Re: Anyone Else Completely Freaked Out By This?

I really hope that they are right about not coming to LI. We are having ds's first bday party outdoors this year and this is exactly the type of thing that would happen to me

Every party I've had had a hurricane, tornado, snow in october literally! The party gods hate me :(

Re: Anyone Else Completely Freaked Out By This?

I don't like any kind of insect but wouldn't say I'm AT ALL freaked out ..It's just another season nuisance.. I don't like bees either! What I find nasty about these things is when you see them laying on the ground and accidentally walk into them or something and they start buzzing Eeew At least they don't sting or bite I'd be much more concerned about misquotes. I get WELTS from those thing!!