TheManyVoices , 2 months ago

🧵Signs of the 17-year #cicadas are already showing up in #Elmhurst #Illinois. The city is a 25-min drive west of #Chicago and had overwhelming numbers of these cicadas in 2006 and 1989. This year, sections of the state will also be hit with a 13-year brood, an event that hasn't happened since 1803.

If you're wondering if you might be seeing them near you, this is what to look for in the soil.

#Cicadas2024 #Cicadadon #BroodXIX #Cicadapocalypse #BroodXIII #Bugstodon #Insectodon @science

Zooming in on a small immature cicada (hard to see). Around the insect, there are holes in the ground. Each hole has a top that juts out of the ground, shaped like a topless muddy hut. (Photo credit Haley Hogan, Elmhurst, Illinois.) Note that I did not believe a content warning was warranted when posting these images, because the insects in these images are so incredibly difficult to discern.