By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
The Midwest is about to experience a bug explosion. But not Kansas. For the first time since 1803, a pair of cicada broods are set to emerge at the same time. Alicia Boor, agriculture and natural resources agent in the Cottonwood District for K-State Research and Extension, said those insects differ from the ones around most of Kansas.
"The cicadas we have in Kansas are mainly annual cicadas," she said. "That's why we get a few every year but they aren't overwhelming. There is one brood that's in the eastern part of Kansas but it has never been recorded in Barton County."
Cicadas are grouped in broods based on their life cycles and when they emerge. The cicadas in Kansas typically spend two to five years underground and emerge at different times, so the familiar buzz of the insects can be heard each summer. Contrary to popular belief, cicadas are not locusts and cannot eat crops.
"The 13-year and 17-year, they actually hatch from eggs and burrow underground and spend those 13 or 17 years as nymphs, feeding on the xylem and phloem, the nutrients that are in the tree roots," Boor said.
The cicadas then emerge, spend approximately two months finding a mate, then they die. Brood IV (4), also known as the "Kansas Brood," is on a 17-year cycle. Brood IV is largely contained to the eastern half of the state and last emerged in 2015 with the next emergence in 2032.
Cicada nymphs have large, muscular front legs that allow them to dig their way from their burrows. They tunnel to the surface, crawl up the nearest object, and their skin splits down the middle. The adult emerges from the shell commonly found on fences and trees and dries its wings.
The cicadas making national headlines this year are Brood XIII (8) and Brood XIX (19). Brood XIII cicadas found mostly in Illinois, are on a 17-year cycle. Brood XIX cicadas are on a less common 13-year cycle and can be found mostly in Illinois and the southeast corner of the United States. Because of their differing cycles, the two broods last emerged at the same time in 1803. After the 2024 emergence, they will not emerge at the same time again for another 221 years.
Billions of the insects are expected to emerge throughout the Midwest from late April through the summer. Cicadas make their famous sound by expanding and contracting a membrane on their abdomen called a tymbal. The sound of millions of the insects going at the same time has been likened to that of a jet engine.