Cicada Mania

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April 13, 2023

Brood XIII and Brood XIX Magicicada will both emerge in 2024

Filed under: Brood XIII | Brood XIX | Periodical — Dan @ 9:42 am

News! A Brood XIX straggler has emerged in Georgia! More stragglers have been sighted in Hartselle AL, Pittsboro, NC, Chattanooga, TN, Asheboro, NC, and Chapel Hill, NC.

2024 will be a “magical” year for cicada fans because the periodical cicada broods XIII and XIX will emerge in 2024. These broods co-emerge every 221 years (13 X 17). The last time they co-emerged was in 1803, the same year as the Louisiana Purchase (the same year the U.S. got Brood XIX states Louisiana, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma). Coincidence? Perhaps.

Thomas Jefferson thinking of the cicadas he just bought.

Brood XIII (13) has a 17-year lifecycle and is found in the states of IA, IL, IN, MI, and WI. This brood features the species Magicicada septendecim, Magicicada cassini, and Magicicada septendecula.

People (cicada tourists) have begun to ask “Where is the best place to see Brood XIII in 2024?”. I can recommend the Ryerson Conservation Area in Deerfield, IL. See photos and videos from my trip there in 2007. Illinois has both Brood XIII and Brood XIX, and all 7 Magicicada species. So you could spend a week in southern Illinois for Brood XIX and then travel north to Deerfield for Brood XIII.

Brood XIX (19) has a 13-year lifecycle and is found in the states of AL, AR, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MD, MO, MS, NC, OK, SC, TN, and VA. This brood is also known as the Great Southern Brood and features the species Magicicada tredecim, Magicicada neotredecim, Magicicada tredecassini, and Magicicada tredecula.

Do these broods overlap? If they do, it’s in the Springfield, Illinois area. Springfield is a good place for your cicada sightseeing “basecamp”. Take a look at these maps on the UCONN Cicadas website: Brood XIX and Brood XIII.

Your next chance to see and hear two broods co-emerge will be in 2037 when Brood XIX and Brood IX (9) emerge.

20 Comments »

  1. Jiman says:

    Thank you for the info. I’m planning to visit Illinois in May to observe them, but I’m unsure when to visit to observe both broods together, considering they seem to emerge at different dates. Do you have any suggestions?

    1. Dan says:

      Be prepared to drive around to see them. I imagine that they’ll both be out the 3rd and 4th week of May.

  2. M.Roberts says:

    Are there visible differences between the two broods, or do all cicadas look alike?

    1. Dan says:

      There are regional variations in the cicadas’s appearance, but for the most part the look the same.

      Brood XIII Brood XIX Similarity
      Magicicada cassini Magicicada tredecassini Small with a black abdomen
      Magicicada septendecula Magicicada tredecula Small with small orange lines on abdomen
      Magicicada septendecim Magicicada neotredecim Large, orange lines on abdomen
        Magicicada tredecim Large, abdomen almost entirely orange
  3. Evan Fortin says:

    I would love to fly down form Canada to see this!. Are there any parks or locations where both broods can be found when emerging that anyone could recommend? i doubt there is much in the way of “bug tourism”.

    1. Dan says:

      There’s no park where both Broods exist. The closest they get is Springfield, IL, where Brood XIX is to its south and Brood XIII is to its north. ~10 miles apart though.

      I found the best part in Brood XIX territory is the Lake County Forest Preserves.

      The thing to see (or rather hear) or Brood XIX is where Magicicada tredecim and Magicicada neotredecim overlap (see this map). They’re two large species that look and normally sound similar, but Magicicada neotredecim changes it’s song in the presence of Magicicada tredecim.

      1. Dan says:

        Thank you. This site has more type o’s than a blood bank.

  4. Mike Dunn says:

    When might we expect to see Brood XIX in the Pittsboro, NC area (Chatham County) this spring? And will they be in nearby urban counties like Wake and Durham?

    1. Dan says:

      Not sure about Pittsboro, but I can see that they’re in Chatham county along route 64. They’re in the outskirts of Durham and Chapel Hill. check this map https://cicadas.uconn.edu/brood_19/

  5. Robert DeWitt says:

    Does anyone know where to go in Virginia?

    1. Dan says:

      Yes. King William County. Zoom in on this map.

  6. Bettina Sailer says:

    There were no Brood XIII cicadas where I live, in 2007, so we brought back 100’s of them to our yard. The local newspaper even showed up and did a front page article on us! They are planning to return if cicadas have successfully survived and emerge! Would this be a “new brood?” Who should I contact to announce this new emergence area? I have been counting down the years, and now months, for this year and am SO excited to see if our experiment worked!

    1. Smegma Jawms says:

      The next invasive species

      1. Dan says:

        I am all for cicadas invading where ever they can.

  7. Misty says:

    I’m looking to find out roughly the dates that the brood 19 will emerge in middle Tn please?

    1. Dan says:

      Misty,

      Definitely middle of May, but probably before that. They’re like kernels of corn — they “pop” when it gets hot.

      When they emerge depends on the weather. Once the weather above ground hits the high 70s-80s, that’s enough to warm them up underground, and then they’ll start to emerge.

  8. Audrey G. says:

    When these broods co-emerge, do they only mate with their own brood? What if they mate with the other brood? Does it mess up the lifecycle?

    1. Dan says:

      The Broods do not overlap much link to a map, so it is hard to say. I think researchers would have to do a large scale experiment where 17 year cicadas were brought to a 13 year area and vice versa, and then wait to see what happens.

  9. Jess says:

    Thanks for the info. I think you mean 1803 not 1083

    1. Dan says:

      You are correct.

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