Brood XIX – Page 2 – Cicada Mania

Brood XIX (19) periodical cicadas emerged in the spring of 2024 in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. Rotten, but not forgotten, Brood XIX will be back in 2037. Relive the memories: Gene Kritsky released a new book. See what people found iNaturalist: Flagging (Brown Leaves), Brood XIX, Massospora, and Blue and White eyes. Buy a shirt. Yes, Brood XIII also emerged in 2024, but they did not overlap but came close in the Springfield, Illinois area.

What, when, where, and why:

What:

Millions of these cicadas:
Adult, Nymph, Molting Cicada

Cicada insects with a 13-year life cycle.
Some people call them “locusts” but they are cicadas. (Locusts are grasshoppers.)
Which species: All four 13-year species:
- Magicicada neotredecim Marshall and Cooley, 2000. Their range includes AR, IL, IN, KY MO, & OK.
- Magicicada tredecim (Walsh and Riley, 1868). Their range includes AL, AR, GA, IL, IN, KY, LA, MD, MO, MS, NC, OK, SC, TN & VA
- Magicicada tredecassini Alexander and Moore, 1962
- Magicicada tredecula Alexander and Moore, 1962
The last time Brood XIX emerged was in 2011.
NOT the green cicadas that arrive annually.

Brood XIX has a 13-year cycle. It is interesting because it features both Magicicada neotredecim and Magicicada tredecim. These cicadas are very similar in song and appearance, but in areas where they overlap, Magicicada neotredecim alters its song to a higher pitch, which allows female cicadas to determine the species of their prospective mates. Visit Cicadas @ UCONN for more info on this behavior.

M. tredecim also have more orange on their abdomen than M. neotredecim.
Compare 13 year decims

When: Typically beginning in mid-May and ending in late June. These cicadas will begin to emerge approximately when the soil 8 inches beneath the ground reaches 64 degrees Fahrenheit. A nice, warm rain will often trigger an emergence.

Other tips: these cicadas will emerge after the trees have grown leaves, and, by my own observation, around the same time Iris flowers bloom.

Where:

View the live maps on iNaturalist.

Alabama counties: Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Calhoun, Chambers, Choctaw, Clarke, Colbert, Crenshaw, Elmore, Etowah, Greene, Lawrence, Limestone, Lowndes, Monroe, Montgomery, Russell, Sumter, Tallapoosa, Wilcox
Alabama cities: Huntsville, Lowndesboro, Talladega
Arkansas counties: Boone, Futon, Howard, Izard, Lawrence, Marion, Montgomery, Pike, Scott, Searcy, Sevier, Sharp, Washington, Yell
Georgia counties: Bibb, Bleckley, Butts, Columbia, Elbert, Greene, Harris, Houston, Jasper, McDuffie, Monroe, Muscogee, Newton, Jasper, Oconee, Peach, Pulaski, Putnam, Richmond, Stephens, Taliaferro, Troup, Waren, Wilkes
Georgia cities: LaGrange, Lincolnton, Rome, Washington.
Illinois counties: Adams, Brown, Calhoun, Cass, Champaign, Clark, Clay, Coles, Cumberland, De Witt, Effingham, Fayette, Ford, Franklin, Gallatin, Hamilton, Hancock, Iroquois, Jefferson, Johnson, Marion, Massac, Morgan, Moultrie, Pike, Pope, Saline, Shelby, Vermillion, Washington, Williamson
Illinois cities: Charleston, Decatur, Wamac
Kentucky counties: Allen, Caldwell, Christian, Trigg
Louisiana parishes: Caddo, Claiborne, Madison, Morehouse, Ouachita, Washington, Webster. Parish information comes from older literature, and might not be as accurate as recent information.
Maryland counties: St Marys
Missouri counties: Adair, Boone, Callaway, Carter, Clark, Cooper, Dent, iron, Jackson, Knox, Louis, Lincoln, Macon, Maries, Marion, Montgomery, Morgan, Oregon, Osage, Pettis, Phelps, Ralls, Reynolds, St. Carles, St Francois, St Louis
Missouri cities: Columbia, Gerald, Manchester, Pevely, Poplar Bluff, St. Louis, Troy
Mississippi counties: Kemper, Newton
North Carolina counties: Buncombe, Cabarrus, Chatham, Davidson, Davie, Durham, Gaston, Guilford, Mecklenburg, Montgomery, Orange, Randolph, Rowan, Stanly, Union, Wake
North Carolina cities: Apex, Baldwin Township, Chapel Hill, Charlotte, Durham, Harrisburg, Mebane, New Hill, Pittsboro, Raleigh, Waxhaw
Oklahoma counties: McCurtain
South Carolina counties: Abbeville, Aiken, Anderson, Cherokee, Chester, Edgefield, Greenwood, Lancaster, Lexington, McCormick, Newberry, Oconee, Saluda, Union, York
South Carolina cities: Chester, Little Mountain, Rock Hill, Saluda, Tullahoma, Winnsboro
Tennessee counties: Blount, Cheatham, Clay, Coffee, Davidson, Grundy, Hamilton, Jackson, Loudon, Macon, Marion, McMinn, Meigs, Putnam, Rutherford, Sequatchie, Smith, Stewart, Summer, Williamson
Tennessee cities: Gallatin, Lebanon, Nashville, Spring Hill
Virginia counties: Caroline, Glouchester, Halifax, James City, King and Queen, King William, Middlesex, New Kent, York
Virginia cities: Alexandria, Stafford, Williamsburg

More Location Tips:

Official iNaturalist Project
Not sure? Ask someone in your community who lived there 13-years ago.
Cicadas @ UCONN has the most up-to-date maps to predict where they will show up
A Tale of Two Broods: The 2024 Emergence of Periodical Cicada Broods XIII and XIX book by Dr. Gene Kritsky.
The Cicada Safari app for iOS and Android to find and report cicadas.
The University of Connecticut Periodical Cicadas website.

Why: Why do they stay underground for 13 years? The prevailing research suggests they’ve evolved a long, 13-year lifecycle allowing them to avoid predators that would sync up with their lifecycle & emergence. Why are there so many?! Research suggests that their huge numbers allow them to overwhelm predators, so enough of them will live on to breed and perpetuate the brood.

More facts and fun:

1907 Map from Marlatt, C.L.. 1907. The periodical cicada. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Bureau of Entomology.

See a modern map or the Live Map from the Cicada Safari app.
Marlatt 1907 19 Brood XIX

What happened in 2011? Here’s some old blog posts with comments:

What happened in 1998? Here’s our message board from then:

Look out for Brood II, Brood V and Brood XIX Stragglers

When is a 2012 Magicicada not a Brood I cicada? When it’s a straggler.

A straggler is a periodical cicada that emerges in a year before or after the year they are supposed to emerge. Typically a straggler will emerge one or four years before, or one year after the year they should have emerged. Stragglers from Broods II (due 2013), Brood V (due 2016) and Brood XIX (backin 2011) are or will emerge this year in limited numbers.

Brood II is set to emerge next year in most of central Virginia (as well as CT, MD, NC, NJ, NY, PA), Brood V will emerge in four years in Virginia and West Virginia (as well as OH, PA), and Brood XIX emerged last year in a few areas of Virginia (as well as AL, AR, GA, IL, IN, KY, MO, MS, NC, OK, SC, TN).

Stragglers present a challenge for people tracking the Brood I emergence because Brood II, Brood V and Brood XIX stragglers will emerge in the same states as Brood I cicadas. Brood II and Brood V overlap Brood I in some places.

Here is a comparison of the I,II & V Broods. The black dots represent where the cicadas have emerged historically.

2012 periodical cicada stragglers

Here’s a map of Brood XIX in case you are curious:
Marlatt 1907 19 Brood XIX

Visit Cicadas @ UCONN (formerly Magicicada.org) for more information on this phenomena, and report your cicada sightings while you’re there. Credit goes to the Cicadas @ UCONN (formerly Magicicada.org)’s Facebook post that reminded me of the stragglers.

Best Cicada News of the Week: Cicada Ice Cream?!

Brood XIX News

You can see the latest 500 cicada sightings on magicicada.org. Visit their “2011 Brood XIX sightings” map. The latest reports are from Illinois and Missouri.

The latest Science Cabaret Podcast is about cicadas, and in particular, the relationship of birds and cicadas. The podcast features Dr. Walt Koenig and is hosted by Dr. Holly.

I enjoyed this blog post Kingdom of the Cicadas. It features photos and videos of the emergence from Joplin, Missouri.

Cicada Ice Cream

There were a lot of news stories about Sparky’s Ice Cream shop in Columbia, Missouri, and their cicada ice cream. After reading dozens of articles, it seems that they only made one batch, and the local health official(s) only advised them not to make the ice cream, but did not specifically or legally stop them from making it.