From Roy:

We had an unexpected emergence in parts of the Cincinnati area last night & I got some pics with my new Canon t4i. Gene [Kritsky] & his wife Jess came out to witness it as well. I would say hundreds emerged in a very small suburb of Cincinnati called Finneytown. This could be 4 year acceleration of the new brood VI that Gene has been talking about verifying in 2017 or 8 year acceleration of Brood X.

Photos of these cicadas by Roy.

+ Upper Montclair NJ (thx Eryn)

Today I found a white eyed male Magicicada septendecim in Metuchen NJ. Here is a video. White eyed periodical cicadas are relatively rare.

Update for May 21st

I visited Metuchen NJ today and confirmed that the emergence has started there. Here’s a photo of a M. septendecim I found (poor creature was stuck to it’s exuvia).

The cicadas are chorusing in Charlottesville VA. Here’s a video of their chorus. (thx Rachel)

According to Henryk J. Behnke of the Staten Island Museum: “Finally, the temperature is right and the first, small groups of hundreds of 17-year cicadas are emerging on Staten Island’s South Shore.”

Jason sent us this YouTube video of teneral (soft, white, newly emerged) adults in Summit NJ:

And this video of adult cicadas:

Update for May 19th

As usual Cicada Mania offers a full line of shirts, glassware, buttons and other souvenirs:

More locations:
Guilford, CT (thx Justin)
Chase City and Farmville, VA (thx Nathan)
Manassas, VA (thx Camillia)
Summit, NJ (see a video of a lone nymph crawling around):

See where cicada researchers Satoshi Kakishima and Jin Yoshimura have located cicadas: http://www.magicicada.org/updates/update.php.

Don’t forget to report your sightings to Magicicada.org so they can add them to their live map.

Update for May 18th

Cicadas are starting to emerge throughout New Jersey. Westfield, Iselin and Metuchen are visually confirmed. I will assume that they have started to emerge in Staten Island as well because of the relative proximity of Staten Island and Jersey.

Cicadas have started chorusing in North Garden, VA.

Visual confirmation of the emergence in:
Westfield, NJ
Metuchen, NJ
Iselin, NJ
Fredricksburg, VA
Lake Ridge, VA
Yadkin County, NC

Some new galleries of photos:

• Photos of Brood II Magicicada cicadas from Westfield, NJ
• Brood II cicada photos from Front Royal, Va
• Photos of a Brood II Magicicada from Madison, NC
• Brood II cicada photos from Iselin, NJ
• Flickr: 2013 Brood II Cicadas, gallery 2
• Flickr: 2013 Brood II Cicadas

Update (5/16):

Jim Reported in with photos of an adult cicada in Westfield NJ! the first NJ sighting I’ve seen.

The emergence in Virginia continues to be strong.

Louisa County VA
Rhoadesville VA (Orange County)
Springfield VA

Shawn sent us this video of nymphs covering the ground in Altavista VA.

Update (5/15): Randy from Rhoadsville VA said “Today was 85 and its still 74 at 11PM. WOW! The emergence is incredible. There are nymphs everywhere and in various stages from molting”.

On the Facebook Cicada Mania page, Clarla said “The wooded areas around my house are “boiling” and you can hear the larvae digging their way out. LOTS of molting nymphs all over my entrance”.

Update (5/14): cicadas have emerged in many locations in Virgina, including:

Brentsville, VA
Calvert County, VA
Charlottesville, VA
Doylesville, VA
Kinderhook, VA
Martinsville, VA
Stafford County, VA
Stanardsville, VA

A gallery of Brood II cicadas on Flickr!

Update (5/9): cicadas have emerged in North Carolina, Virgina (see a photo) and Maryland (read a tweet) so far. Nymphs are active in New Jersey according to Magicicada and my sister’s chihuahua:

Update (5/2): cicadas have emerged in Guilford County and Stokes County North Carolina.

May 1st:

Over on the Entomology-Cicadidae cicada group a gentleman named Tommy Joseph has posted photos of periodical cicadas which have emerged this week in Greensboro, North Carolina This makes sense as North Carolina is the southern-most state with a Brood II population, and southern states warm up before northern states.

There are also plenty of sightings (mostly nymphs, but some adults) on the Magicicada.org map. Don’t forget to post your sighting there.

The emergence will proceed slowly at first, starting with the southern-most states.

And something amusing for the kids:

Of course it wouldn’t be as special if they did emerge every year.

We also encourage you to clean your fingernails and include an item which can be used to determine the size of the insect, like a ruler.

The ventral view allows us to determine the species and sex.

The following photo features a male (left) and female (right) Magicicada septendecim (Linnaeus, 1758). Note the orange striped abdomen, characteristic of the M. septendecim. Also, as with other cicada species, note that the female’s abdomen comes to a point, and the male’s abdomen is thicker and ends with a “blocky-shaped” structure.

The following photo features a female (left) and male (right) Magicicada cassini (Fisher, 1851). Note the lack of distinct orange stripes on the abdomen, characteristic of the M. cassini. Their abdomens are nearly completely black. Also note that the female’s abdomen comes to a point, and the male’s abdomen is thicker and ends with a “blocky-shaped” structure.

Both these images were taken by the same photographer (Osamu Hikino) and we can use the size of his finger tips (nice clean nails) to compare the size of these two species. The M. cassini is relatively much smaller than the M. septendecim, which is why M. cassini is also known as the “dwarf cicada”.

I don’t have a good photo of the third species, the Magicicada septendecula Alexander and Moore, 1962 [view a photo of M. septendecula on another website]. The M. septendecula is similar to the M. cassini in size (hence smaller than the M. septendecula), but it has orange stripes like the M. septendecim, which is why it is important to get a photo of the left or right side of the insect so we can see the color of the pronotal extension.

The pronotal extension is an extension of the pronotum that lies between the Magicicada’s eye and its wing (outlined in green in the photo below). M. septendecim have orange coloring in that area, which gives us a key way to visually distinguish them from M. septendecula.

If you want to learn more about diagnosing the species and gender of cicadas (all species, not just Magicicada sp.) using photographs, track down the document Overview of Cicada Morphology by Allen F. Sandborn of Barry University.

I don’t want to discourage you from taking amazing photos of cicadas in every position and angle possible using all your fancy macro lenses and whatnot. All cicada photos are awesome, but only a few angles help us identify the insect.

Click thumbnail images to see progressively larger versions of the images:

Click thumbnail images to see progressively larger versions of the images:

This photo is particularly interesting as the cicadas’s wings were damaged during the ecdysis (moulting) process and its tymbal (the ribbed structure that makes the cicada’s sound) is clearly exposed:

Click thumbnail images to see progressively larger versions of the images:

An adult Magicicada septendecim (Linnaeus 1758):

Magicicada exuvia (shell):

Magicicada adult (probably an M. septendecim):

Click thumbnail images to see progressively larger versions of the images:

The “white strings” connecting the teneral (soft) adult cicada to its exuvia (shell, skin) are the old lining of the cicada’s trachea (the tubes through which it breathed).

Cicadas build chimneys above their holes, typically after it rains a lot and the soil becomes soft. The chimneys help keep water from rushing into their holes, and they keep ants and other menaces out.

A good place to find cicada nymphs is under backyard slates (or similar objects that cover the ground). Flip over your slates and you might find a nymph tunneling their ways to the side of the slate.

Brood II 17 Year Cicada Nymph trapped under a slate from Cicada Mania on Vimeo.

17 year cicadas are about to emerge are currently emerging in New Jersey. I asked cicada super-expert Chris Simon of The Simon Lab at the University of Connecticut for some specifics. The information below is based on Dr. Simon’s notes.

Historically Brood II periodical cicadas have appeared in Atlantic, Bergen, Burlington, Cape May, Cumberland, Essex, Hunterdon (in the east), Middlesex, Monmouth (“Slight in eastern part”), Morris, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex, Union, and Warren Counties. Also, you can keep an eye on where cicadas are emerging in New Jersey (and report your own sightings) on Magicicada.org, which has a live map of the emergence.

I’m personally very interested in periodical cicada sightings in Monmouth county — let us know if you spot any there.

Here are some specifics (don’t be dismayed if your town isn’t on the list — they still might appear in your town):

Atlantic County:
- Galloway

Bergen County:
- Alpine (Greenbrook Nature Sanctuary)
- Englewood
- Ft. Lee
- Oakland
- Wyckoff (near Lucine Lorrimer Sanctuary)

Essex County:
- Cedar Grove
- Essex Fells
- Livingston
- Maplewood
- Millburn (South Mountain Reservation)
- Montclair
- North Caldwell
- Short Hills (confirmed in 2013 already)
- Upper Montclair
- West Orange

Middlesex County:
- Edison (confirmed for 2013 – lots of exit holes near the Edison Monument).
- Fords
- Iselin (visually confirmed for 2013)
- Jamesburg
- Metuchen (confirmed in 2013 already)
- Perth Amboy

Mostly north of the Raritan River

Morris County:
- Flanders
- Kinnelton
- Madison
- Rockaway

Passaic County:
- West Milford

Somerset County:
- Bedminster (Pluckemin section)
- Belle Mead
- Bound Brook
- Far Hills
- Rocky Hill

Union County:
- Fanwood
- Plainfield
- Summit (Confirmed – see a video)
- Westfield (Confirmed for 2013)

Warren County:
- Port Murray

Looking at the weather reports, Tuesday the 21st should be a great day to observe the emergence:

BTW, what better way to celebrate Brood II in New Jersey like a Brood II tank top:

A world traveler sent us her recent cicada photos. Here are a sample:

An amazing Tacua speciosa:

Look at the size of it! Behold the beauty!

See all the Tacua speciosa photos.

And…

A severely injured but persevering Dundubia vaginata:

It won’t ever mate again, but it will live for a little longer.

See all the Dundubia vaginata photos.