Cicada Brood XIV is emerging in 2025. Here's what to know about the periodical bugs.
A massive brood of periodical cicadas will emerge soon across the eastern United States, with the notoriously raucous springtime insects due for their 2025 appearance.
Known for their buzzing hordes and ability to rapidly infiltrate the environments where they show up, cicadas this year are expected to swarm parts of Kentucky and Tennessee while arriving in smaller quantities in various places along the East Coast, from Massachusetts and New York down to western Georgia.
Here's what to know about the infamous creatures.
What are periodical cicadas?
Periodical cicadas are moderately sized bugs with red eyes and translucent wings, usually measuring about an inch long with a wider wingspan. They are sometimes mistakenly associated with locusts, like grasshoppers, but cicadas are actually an entirely different sort of insect, part of the same family as stink bugs and bedbugs.
The synchronized behavior of periodical cicadas is their most defining characteristic. Compared with annual cicadas, which appear in generally modest amounts each summer, periodical cicadas emerge in the spring and essentially rise from the ground in unison, in either 13-year or 17-year intervals. Cicadas that emerge on the same schedule are called a brood, and each is labeled using Roman numerals.
This year, the group belongs to Brood XIV, the second-largest brood of periodical cicadas known to scientists, according to the University of Connecticut. Researchers with the university's Cicada Project note that, while they cannot technically know with certainty where a particular brood is going to emerge next, its last known locations during previous emergence events usually provide valuable insights. Because periodical cicadas typically lay their eggs in or near the areas where they've just emerged, the next generation of broods tend to emerge themselves in similar places.
Cicada map predicts where they will emerge in 2025
Based on University of Connecticut research, CBS News' data team created an interactive map that charts the expected spread of Brood XIV, which last arose 17 years ago and is the only brood emerging in 2025.
The map shows the cicadas primarily concentrated in Kentucky and Tennessee, in addition to parts of Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia. Farther north, the brood is also expected to take shape in smaller pockets, in Cape Cod, Massachusetts; Long Island, New York; and central Pennsylvania.
When will Brood XIV emerge?
The brood will emerge before the end of spring on June 21, but cicadas' arrivals in different parts of the U.S. will likely vary.
Cicada expert Matthew Kasson told CBS News in 2024 that the exact timing of a brood's emergence is linked to the temperature of the soil they're in before moving above ground. Kasson said cicadas are prompted to exit the soil when it reaches 64 degrees, so groups within the larger brood may travel to the surface sooner than others in cooler locations.
What do cicadas do?
The life cycles of periodical cicadas are closely tied to how and where they emerge. Before a brood materializes on land, each of its members — sometimes trillions of them — exist underground as larvae, subsiding on fluids from plant roots, according to the National Wildlife Federation. They live in those conditions for 13 or 17 years, depending on their brood. Then, almost all at once, the insects burrow upward and break through the surface of the soil, often making their presence known by erupting in loud and at times constant choruses.
Conspicuous noises from cicada swarms are a mating tactic, the wildlife federation writes, as the male insects gather in groups and create loud sounds to attract females. The mating process begins within a few days of cicadas emerging. When it ends, the females cut shallow grooves into tree branches and lay their eggs inside. Researchers at Arizona State University say those eggs usually hatch within 8 weeks, and newly born cicadas fall from the branches down to the ground. Called nymphs at that point, the young bugs proceed to dig their way back underneath the soil, where they remain until it's time to emerge again.
Adult cicadas typically remain above ground in a given location for 4 to 6 weeks after they first emerge. Researchers note that most of the individual insects live for less time, but that window accounts for some degree of staggering when the brood emerges, since that happens over a period of about two weeks.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
2 hours ago
- New York Post
Ordinary ancient Romans ate ‘luxury' meat at ‘fast-food shops,' new research reveals
Newly published research is providing a fascinating glimpse into how ancient Romans enjoyed their fast food — shedding more light on life in antiquity. In a recent journal article entitled 'Urban Consumption of Thrushes in the Early Roman City of Pollentia, Mallorca,' researcher Alejandro Valenzuela discovered previously unknown information about how Romans consumed thrushes, a type of small bird. Until now, it was assumed that thrushes were a delicacy, reserved only for the rich. But Valenzuela found that these birds were actually consumed by the masses. The proof, Valenzuela said, was found in a first-century cesspit in Mallorca, Spain, where the bones of multiple species of animals were found. The pit was once connected to a fast-food shop called a taberna. Valenzuela, a researcher at the Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies in Mallorca, spoke with Fox News Digital about his findings. 'The key takeaway is that thrushes, once considered a luxury delicacy reserved for the Roman elite, were actually part of the everyday foodscape in cities like Pollentia,' the antiquity expert revealed. 'This challenges long-held assumptions and highlights how archaeological evidence – especially from refuse contexts like cesspits – can give us direct insight into daily life, food habits and economic strategies of ordinary people in the ancient world.' 3 Until now, it was assumed that thrushes were a delicacy, reserved only for the rich. Luigi Spina/Electa/Mondadori Portfolio At the Pollentia site, archaeologists also found the remains of pigs, sheep, goat, fish and shellfish – showing how varied the Roman diet was. 'Frying in oil was a common Roman technique for small birds, especially in urban food settings where speed and simplicity were key.' 'These spaces likely served stews, small fried or grilled meats, legumes and wine – meals convenient for those without kitchens at home,' Valenzuela said. In terms of cooking methods used, Valenzuela said thrushes were likely pan-fried instead of grilled, according to the evidence at the site. 'Frying in oil was a common Roman technique for small birds, especially in urban food settings where speed and simplicity were key,' he said. 3 At the Pollentia site, archaeologists also found the remains of pigs, sheep, goat, fish and shellfish – showing how varied the Roman diet was. Getty Images Archaeologists also found that thrushes' skeletons were missing large, meatier bones like femurs and humeri. 'The presence of fragmented sterna supports the idea that the birds were flattened to allow for quick cooking,' he posited. Ancient Romans likely enjoyed these meats with vinegar, herbs, spices and a fermented fish sauce called garum, according to Valenzuela. 'Small birds could be served on skewers or simple ceramic plates,' he said. The expert added, 'The fact that thrushes were sold in bundles of 10, as per Diocletian's Price Edict, also suggests they were prepared in quantity, likely for immediate consumption by hand or on simple serving ware.' He said establishments like tabernae and popinaeprimarily served working-class urban populations, offering quick and affordable meals. The flavor isn't exactly like chicken, the researcher said. The classicist also stressed that Roman cooking was highly resourceful and, unlike American fast food today, urban vendors served most parts of the animal. 'In Pollentia, pig remains dominate the assemblage, and the presence of cranial and foot bones suggests that less-valued parts were also processed and consumed, likely as broths or stews,' Valenzuela said. 3 Ancient Romans likely enjoyed these meats with vinegar, herbs, spices and a fermented fish sauce called garum, according to Valenzuela. Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images 'That said, prime cuts were always more valuable and may have been sold separately or used in specific dishes.' What did these small thrushes taste like? Valenzuela said the flavor isn't exactly like chicken. 'Their taste is more comparable to other small game birds like quail or woodcock,' he said. 'Lean, slightly gamey and rich, especially when pan-fried or roasted.' Though archaeologists only discovered animal bones at the Pollentia site, some excavators have been lucky enough to find preserved Roman food.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Yahoo
FDA approves HIV prevention drug taken as twice-yearly injection
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the drug lenacapavir as a twice-yearly injection to prevent HIV. The drug, called Yeztugo from company Gilead Sciences, was approved Wednesday based on data from clinical trials that showed 99.9% of participants who received it remained HIV negative. Daniel O'Day, Gilead's chairman and chief executive officer, called the approval a "milestone moment in the decades-long fight against HIV." "Yeztugo will help us prevent HIV on a scale never seen before. We now have a way to end the HIV epidemic once and for all," O'Day said in a news release. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were 31,800 estimated new HIV infections in the United States in 2022, the most recent year with available data. While the drug's approval meets an existing need, the Trump administration's funding decisions have rolled back progress for a vaccine. Last month, the administration moved to end funding for a broad swath of HIV vaccine research, saying current approaches are enough to counter the virus. Dr. Barton Ford Haynes, the director of the Duke Human Vaccine Institute, recently told CBS News lenacapavir is a "wonderful development for the field," but said there was still a need for a vaccine. "For HIV vaccine design and development, we've begun to see light at the end of the tunnel after many years of research," Dennis Burton, an immunology professor at Scripps Research, previously told CBS News. "This is a terrible time to cut it off. We're beginning to get close. We're getting good results out of clinical trials." Burton warned that their HIV vaccine research could not simply be turned back on, even if a future administration decided to change course on HIV funding. He said ongoing experiments would be shuttered, and researchers assembled to study the issue would be forced to refocus their careers on other topics. "This is a decision with consequences that will linger. This is a setback of probably a decade for HIV vaccine research," Burton said. Teen questioned after family's quadruple murder Iranians evacuate capital Tehran, some say the regime is frightened Parents, brother of slain Minnesota lawmaker Melissa Hortman speak about her death
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Yahoo
Here's where 17-year cicadas are the worst in Cincinnati, Southwest Ohio. See the map
They're causing chaos at King's Island. They're being blamed for car crashes. Millions of not billions of 17-year cicadas in Brood XIV have emerged in Cincinnati and Southwest Ohio. And even though they've been around for weeks, they are still making themselves known: Screaming from plants and trees, making a mess and peeing on everything. But their time is growing short. Gene Kritsky, professor emeritus of biology with Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati, said in a June 16 email that people in the areas heaviest with cicadas should start "to notice things getting quieter next week." What areas are those? Here's where the largest number of cicadas have been in the Greater Cincinnati area, according to Kritsky. Kritsky, founder of Cicada Safari, an app that crowdsources and reviews data on cicadas, was out mapping the 17-year cicada emergence as recently as Monday, June 16, said the heaviest presence of 17-year cicadas have been in Loveland and Mason, northeast of Cincinnati, as well as Pattison Park in Batavia and East Fork State Park in Bethel, both roughly 25 miles east of the Queen City. According to the map generated by Cicada Safari, where users can submit reports of cicada sightings, there have been tens of thousands of reports in Cincinnati and its northern suburbs. But if you head south, crossing the Ohio River into Northern Kentucky, cicada reports dwindle until you hit Louisville and Lexington, per the map. So when will these cicadas go away? The 17-year cicadas are only around for a few weeks, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, as they seek mates and lay eggs for the next generation. And while they started to emerge in mid-May, they are still going strong. Kritsky attributed the slow emergence to cooler, rainy days in May. Cicadas need the soil temperatures to hit 64 degrees to emerge, per ODNR, which typically happens in the second half of May. Following his recent mapping excursion, Kritsky said the big die-off has not yet begun. "The cicadas are still mostly in the trees singing," he said in a June 17 email. But he expects it to start soon. "People should notice the loud singing declining over the next two weeks, and the singing should be over in early July," he said previously. Brood XIV is one of 15 recognized broods of periodical cicadas that emerge every 13 or 17 years, and one of four that appear in the Buckeye State, according to ODNR. They are active for three to four weeks as they focus on mating and reproduction, per ODNR. Male periodical cicadas produce a deafening chorus of calls to attract females. Once mated, female cicadas deposit their eggs into the branches of trees and shrubs. Annual cicadas emerge worldwide each year, but periodical cicadas are found only in eastern North America. They live underground as nymphs for either 13 or 17 years before emerging above ground in massive numbers. Different populations of periodical cicadas are called 'broods' and are numbered with Roman numerals. One of the biggest tourist attractions in Southwest Ohio — Kings Island, in Mason — is also in the center of one of the largest cicada emergences. And some visitors have taken to TikTok to share their disgust, the Enquirer reported on June 11. Videos show people ducking to get away from the bugs, or just running off in some cases. And their screaming is audible in each one. Kritsky told Scripps News Services that he has one important piece of advice for Kings Island visitors. "Just enjoy the cicadas, and when you're on the ride, keep your mouth closed," he said. Brood XIV cicadas of 2025 will stretch from northern Georgia to Massachusetts. In Ohio, they were expected to emerge in a more than dozen counties, per ODNR, mostly in Southwest Ohio: Adams Brown Butler Champaign Clermont Clinton Gallia Greene Hamilton Highland Jackson Lawrence Pike Ross Scioto Warren Washington Some of the edge counties will not see as heavy an emergence as others. The cicadas that emerge every 13 or 17 years are different from the ones seen every summer, and it's not just the amount of time. Kritsky told WKRN in Nashville that periodical cicadas emerge in May or June, while annual cicadas show up later, in late June and July, and through the rest of summer. The two types also look different from each other. Periodical cicadas have black bodies with red eyes and red-orange wings and can be anywhere from three-quarters of an inch to an inch and one-quarter in length. Annual cicadas have dark green to black bodies with green-veined wings and black eyes and are larger. They can grow to an inch and one-third in length. Any animal that can eat insects will eat cicadas, according to the Purdue University Extension. Those include fish, bears, birds, raccoons and even other insects, like parasitic wasps. They're also safe for your dog to eat, to a point. According to the American Kennel Club, a dog that eats the occasional cicada should be fine. However, dogs that gorge on cicadas will find their exoskeletons difficult to digest, resulting in an upset stomach, abdominal pain, vomiting and bloody diarrhea. Some dogs that overconsume cicadas may require a trip to the vet for IV fluids, or pain and anti-nausea medications. This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Here's where cicadas are the worst in Cincinnati, Ohio. See the map
