State has to wait until 2030 for next cicada emergence
Two broods of periodic cicadas are due to emerge in the coming weeks across much of the Midwest and southeastern U.S. But while Connecticut has both periodic and annual cicadas in some areas, the local broods won’t be participating in this year’s noisy, all you can eat, cicada jamboree.
“We’re on the outer limits of where periodical cicadas can live,” said John Cooley, a professor of entomology at the University of Connecticut.
Cooley studies periodic cicadas and he said that 2024 is going to be an active year. All seven periodical cicada species will emerge at the same time, which won’t happen again until 2037.
But Connecticut’s brood is just badly timed to get in on the fun. This state’s only extant brood of periodical cicadas, Brood II, won’t emerge until 2030. Connecticut at one point had a second brood, Brood XI, that stopped appearing after 1954.
“The last really good spot for them is just below the castle in Hubbard Park” in Meriden, said Cooley.
Next year, periodic cicadas will be accessible in Connecticut, should you choose to go find them. They’re due to emerge on Long Island near Brookhaven National Laboratory and on Cape Cod in 2025, as well.
If you want to see this year’s emergence, however, you’ll need to take a road trip out into Ohio, Virginia or, if you’re feeling extra eager to be swarmed in cicadas, the epicenter in Illinois.
Insects of Unusual Habits
Periodical cicadas belong to an ancient genus, the Magicicada, that first diverged from other cicadas about 4 million years ago in the Pilocene period, before humans walked the earth.
These cicadas are unique. Unlike their cousins, who emerge annually or bi-annually, periodical cicadas only appear for a few weeks every 13 or 17 years. The rest of the time they spend growing underground, suckling on the circulatory system of deciduous trees.
They are the loudest insects on earth, experts say.
Young cicada nymphs don’t really tell “time” like we do, Cooley said. But they can tell when their host tree is shifting through its annual cycle. The nymphs count each cycle and emerge after they’ve hit the right number of cycles. Once they’ve gotten to 13 or 17 from the host tree, the cicada nymphs start making their way upward, close to the surface where they wait for the soil to heat up to about 64 degrees. Once that happens, the nymphs climb up into the trees and molt into their adult form.
After four to six days the adults are fully formed. The males begin congregating to sing to the females. Over the next four weeks or so millions of cicadas sing, mate, lay eggs and die. Meanwhile, various cicada predators gorge themselves on the hyper-abundant food.
Scientists think that cicadas developed this unusual lifecycle to avoid predators. They’re relatively safe underground. When they all come out at once in giant, millions-strong swarms, it ensures that many of them will mate and survive. Predators literally cannot eat them all. The cicadas that die, or are eaten, serve as a vital nutrient for their forest homes. As they decompose, they rejuvenate the soil. They’re not pests and don’t harm forests.
Cooley said that over the next century he wouldn’t be surprised if more cicada broods made their way into Connecticut. Our big, deciduous forests are a “perfect habitat” for them. Warmer climates also make it easier for these insects to thrive.
“We’re all living in glacial landscapes here in eastern North America,” said Cooley. Some 10,000 years ago, there wasn’t anything in Connecticut except miles of ice, but somehow the cicadas found their way here. “There isn’t anything about this place that would make it difficult for them to live.”