Periodical cicadas are unique in that all (or nearly all) members of the population emerge in one year and then are absent in the intervening years.

17-year periodical cicada Brood IX is emerging in 2020. 13-year periodical cicada Brood XIX will emerge in 2024, but significant numbers appear to be emerging this year, 4 years early. Brood IX has not been thoroughly mapped, and the phenomenon of early emergences in 13-year cicadas is not well understood. Citizen Scientists can help us understand these phenomena by reporting periodical cicada emergences.

Brood IX is of interest, because even though our existing maps of it are fragmentary, it appears to exemplify the puzzle-piece nature of periodical cicada broods.

There are several outstanding questions concerning Brood IX:

Brood IX is not genetically homogeneous; in the map above; blue boxes show Brood IX mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplotypes. Our sampling to date (which is limited) indicates that the portion of Brood IX in NC is characterized by eastern mtDNA haplotypes, while the interior portion, in VA and WV, exhibits Midwestern mtDNA haplotypes. This difference suggests either introgression of one or the other mitochondrial haplotypes into the brood, or it suggests that the brood is of composite (multiple) origins. The absence of mixed-haplotype population samples argues for the composite-origin hypothesis; however, sampling is extremely sparse, limiting our ability to make strong conclusions.

Elkin, NC (map above) is an interesting periodical cicada hotspot. Brood VI, Brood IX, Brood X, and Brood XIV all have populations in the area. An outstanding question is the extent to which these broods are in contact or overlap.

What about stragglers?

2020 is four years before the emergence of Brood XIX and of Brood XIII in 2024. Both 13- and 17-year cicadas can emerge early or late, and both have a tendency to do so in increments of 1 and 4 years (Cooley et al. 2018; Marshall et al. 2017).

Brood XIII is located in northern Illinois. Our group traveled to Chicago in November 2019 to dig up nymphs, and we found many with red eyes, a sign that they would emerge the following spring. So we expect many stragglers this year across the range of Brood XIII. This brood has had a number of notable straggling events; Dybas (1969) reported choruses of cicadas 4-years early in Bemis Preserve, and we (Cooley et al. 2016) noted light choruses of cicadas in Hinsdale, IL along Ogden Avenue (across the tollway from Bemis Preserve) in 2003, four years before the 2007 emergence of Brood XIII. Because Brood XIII is well-separated from Brood IX, Brood XIII stragglers are unlikely to be confused with Brood IX emergences.

An overriding philosophy of the mapping project is: A Misleading Map is Worse Than No Map At All. There are a lot of Brood XIX stragglers out, and if they are mistaken for Brood IX emergences, these mistaken records will create the impression that Brood IX has grown suddenly and substantially larger, or that Brood IX broadly overlaps Brood XIX, when no such thing is true. When we collect mapping records, we keep track of densities– in all likelihood, true Brood IX emergences will be dense and widespread, while Brood XIX straggler emergences will tend to be more patchy and scattered (More details about how we take records are what we use for mapping criteria are found here.). Furthermore, Brood IX contains M. septendecim, while Brood XIX contains M. tredecim, and these two species are relatively easy to tell apart by song pitch and by general appearance.

Two outstanding questions:

Are the three species groups (-decim, -cassini, and -decula) equally represented among stragglers?

among stragglers? Are M. neotredecim and M. tredecim stragglers equally common?

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Cooley, J. R. 2015. The distribution of periodical cicada (Magicicada) Brood I in 2012, with new, previously unreported populations (Hemiptera: Cicadidae). The American Entomologist 61: 52-57.

Cooley, J. R., G. Kritsky, D. C. Marshall, K. B. R. Hill, G. J. Bunker, M. L. Neckermann, J. Yoshimura, J. E. Cooley, and C. Simon. 2016. A GIS-based map of periodical cicada Brood XIII in 2007, with notes on adjacent populations of Broods III and X (Hemiptera: Magicicada spp.). The American Entomologist 62:241-246.

Cooley, J. R., N. Arguedas, E. Bonaros, G. J. Bunker, S. M. Chiswell, A. DeGiovine, M. D. Edwards, D. Hassanieh, D. Haji, J. Knox, G. Kritsky, C. Mills, D. Mozgai, R. Troutman, J. D. Zyla, H. Hasegawa, T. Sota, J. Yoshimura, and C. Simon. 2018. The periodical cicada four-year acceleration hypothesis revisited: Evidence for life cycle decelerations and an updated map for Brood V (Hemiptera: Magicicada spp.). PeerJ 6:e5282.

Dybas, H. S. 1969. The 17-year cicada: A four year mistake? Bulletin of the Field Museum of Natural History 40:10-12.

Marshall, D. C., J. R. Cooley, and K. B. R. Hill. 2011. Developmental Plasticity of Life-Cycle Length in Thirteen-Year Periodical Cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America. 104(3): 443-450.

Marshall, D. C., K. B. R. Hill, and J. R. Cooley. 2017. Multimodal life cycle variation in 13- and 17-year periodical cicadas (Magicicada spp.). Journal Of The Kansas Entomological Society 90: 211-226.