Brood XIX and Brood XIII will both emerge this spring. The last time these bugs showed up at the same time in the United States, Thomas Jefferson was president.

Brood XIX and Brood XIII will both emerge this spring. The last time these bugs showed up at the same time in the United States, Thomas Jefferson was president.

The cicadas are coming — and if you’re in the Midwest or the Southeast, they will be more plentiful than ever. Or at least since the Louisiana Purchase.

This spring, for the first time since 1803, two cicada groups known as Brood XIX, or the Great Southern Brood, and Brood XIII, or the Northern Illinois Brood, are set to appear at the same time, in what is known as a dual emergence.

The last time the Northern Illinois Brood’s 17-year cycle aligned with the Great Southern Brood’s 13-year period, Thomas Jefferson was president. After this spring, it’ll be another 221 years before the broods, which are geographically adjacent, appear together again.

“Nobody alive today will see it happen again,” said Floyd W. Shockley, an entomologist and collections manager at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. “That’s really rather humbling.”

Non-paywall link

      • set_secret@lemmy.world
        1·
        10 months ago

        this is actually pretty fascinating, i was under the impression that cicadas emerged periodically world wide, however while they do still spend years underground in other countries, emerging during favourable conditions, giving the impression of periodic emergence; the time period can vary from 1 to 9 years (sometimes longer), but isn’t strict like the USA 13 and 17 cycle. pretty cool.

    • jwmgregory@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      2·
      10 months ago

      when unique ecological events happen in any other place in the world, the title is often “x thing is seen in the world for the first time in x years” or some shit like that. honestly sometimes in media yeah, there’s an america-centric worldview being pushed; but sometimes you people get so overzealous about this “the USA is the whole world” schtick. this literally isn’t anything like that jeez. there’s cool unique bugs elsewhere in the world. there wouldnt be people fucking crucifying the title in the comments about those articles.