Gene Kritsky, author of Periodical Cicadas. The Plague and the Puzzle, let us know that many of what are likely Brood X cicada stragglers have emerged around the Mount St. Joseph University campus, in Cincinnati, Ohio. It’s likely that cicadas are emerging elsewhere in the Cincinnati area.
This is significant because Brood X cicadas should not emerge until 2021.
This is a photo of a Magicicada periodical cicada emerging on the MSJ campus, courtesy of Gene:
Quick facts:
- Gene Kritsky is a periodical cicada expert and Dean of the School of Behavioral and Natural Sciences and Professor and of Biology at Mount St. Joseph University. Read more.
- Brood X is a massive brood of Magicicada (the genus) periodical (the lifecycle type) cicadas that are set to emerge in 2021 in 15 states.
- A straggler is a periodical cicada that emerges off-schedule, often a few years before or after the rest of its Brood.
We have stragglers in the Eastern Panhandle of WV (Jefferson County) as well. Found at one of our field sites. We are Brood X as well.
Thanks Tracy!
I live in Greenbelt, MD. Yesterday (May 26), I heard what I believe was a cicada singing nearby. I was unable to locate the source, somewhere high up in the many surrounding trees of my neighbors and the woods. It sounded like a solitary source. I’ve seen no shells on the several trees in my yard.
Hey Dan, I just wanted you to know that I traveled to Princeton earlier today, and I found numerous shells and 9 nymphs ascending a tree. What brood is this emergence from? They were in the same place last year. Interesting.
Cool news. Brood X. 3 years early this time.
Please submit your sighting to Cicadas @ UCONN (formerly Magicicada.org) too.
I will report them. Thanks for the feedback. I’m just still shocked that they have accelerated again!
I live in Baltimore, MD, where Brood X is expected to be as much fun in 2021 as it was in 2004. Today I saw a cicada exoskeleton on one of my flowers — perhaps another early emerger from the big brood.