{"id":376,"date":"2008-04-01T18:39:42","date_gmt":"2008-04-02T01:39:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cicadamania.com\/cicadas\/2008\/04\/01\/brood-xiv-when-where-and-what-do-they-look-like\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T12:34:42","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T19:34:42","slug":"brood-xiv-when-where-and-what-do-they-look-like","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cicadamania.com\/cicadas\/brood-xiv-when-where-and-what-do-they-look-like\/","title":{"rendered":"Brood XIV: When, Where and What do they look like?"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the first of several Brood XIV Magicicada posts to help you enjoy this year’s cicada mania experience:<\/p>\n

When will they appear?<\/h2>\n

Nymphs<\/strong><\/p>\n

In April people will start to find cicada nymphs close to the surface of the ground, under stones, while landscaping, etc. This is what a nymph looks like:<\/p>\n

Nymph and Adult<\/a><\/p>\n

If you find a nymph in the soil, leave it alone so it will have the opportunity to become an adult.<\/p>\n

Adults<\/strong><\/p>\n

Adults will emerge once the temperature is right, typically at dusk. The best method we know of is using Gene Kritsky’s emergence formula<\/a>. This is a tool<\/a> that will allow you to determine the approximate time when the cicadas will emerge in your area. <\/p>\n

Generally speaking, Magiciadas will begin emerging in the last 2 weeks of May, and the last adults should have passed by the first week of July. <\/p>\n

Where will they appear?<\/h2>\n

States:<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 2008 they’re set to appear in eastern Massachusetts, Long Island New York, south-western New Jersey, south-eastern Pennsylvania, south-eastern and north-western West Virgina, southern Ohio, most of Kentucky, eastern Tennessee, western North Carolina, southern Indiana, and bits of Virgina. <\/p>\n

Maps:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The great Cicada Central site<\/a> has a map of Brood XIV emergence locations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Gene Kritsky’s site has a map as well<\/a>.<\/p>\n

and this is the Cicada Mania map<\/a>, made by Roy.<\/p>\n

Do some research:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Okay! So now you know where the Magicicada might<\/em> appear, but how will you know if these cicada will appear in your yard, neighborhood or local woods? Time for some investigation:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Ask people who were around 17 years ago<\/em>. Old timers, townies, local press — anyone how was around 17 years ago.<\/li>\n
  2. Go to the library and check old news papers<\/em>.<\/li>\n
  3. Contact local colleges and universities<\/em>. Try the entomology department or agricultural extensions.<\/li>\n
  4. Encourage the local press<\/em> to cover the cicadas, and let them do the research. The local press have the most resources to do this research. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Note that old timers call Magicicadas “locusts<\/strong>“; Magicicadas are not true locusts, but the term might help jar people’s memories. Magicicadas can also be called periodical cicadas, as well as 17-year cicadas. Don’t forget to use those terms while asking around<\/p>\n

    What do they look like?<\/h2>\n

    You already saw what the nymph form looks like, but what does an adult look like? They look like this<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

    Magicicada<\/a><\/p>\n

    Black heads and and upper bodies, black and orange bellies (belly is not a scientific term), reddish-orange eyes, orange legs and wings. Yes, sometimes the eyes can be brown, yellow, orange and even white or blue! <\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    This is the first of several Brood XIV Magicicada posts to help you enjoy this year’s cicada mania experience: When will they appear? Nymphs In April people will start to find cicada nymphs close to the surface of the ground, under stones, while landscaping, etc. This is what a nymph looks like: If you find […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-brood-xiv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cicadamania.com\/cicadas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cicadamania.com\/cicadas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cicadamania.com\/cicadas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cicadamania.com\/cicadas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cicadamania.com\/cicadas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cicadamania.com\/cicadas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cicadamania.com\/cicadas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cicadamania.com\/cicadas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cicadamania.com\/cicadas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}