{"id":37374,"date":"2024-04-08T10:05:21","date_gmt":"2024-04-08T08:05:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/a33a0924-8a8f-4bf9-a60b-88206caeb5e6"},"modified":"2024-04-08T10:35:40","modified_gmt":"2024-04-08T08:35:40","slug":"trillions-of-cicadas-are-about-to-emerge-in-the-us-in-rare-cicada-geddon-event","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/rss_feed\/trillions-of-cicadas-are-about-to-emerge-in-the-us-in-rare-cicada-geddon-event\/","title":{"rendered":"Trillions of cicadas are about to emerge in the US in rare ‘cicada-geddon’ event"},"content":{"rendered":"

This spring, in as many as 16 states across the USA, 17- and 13-year cicadas are due to emerge at the same time, something that last occurred in 1803. What will happen? <\/p>

By <\/p>

Published: Monday, 08 April 2024 at 08:05 AM<\/p>

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Like buses, you don\u2019t see one for years and then trillions of them appear at once. And when they do finally show up, the periodical cicadas of North America \u2013 larger, noisier relatives of the planthoppers \u2013 radically alter the ecology of their forest habitat, according to scientists. <\/p>

These periodical cicadas come in two varieties \u2013 one has a 17-year life-cycle; the other a 13-year one. Both spend the vast majority of their lives as nymphs below ground, sucking sap from tree roots. But when their time is up, they emerge above ground en masse and moult into winged adults. They mate and lay eggs, swamping predators through sheer weight of numbers.<\/p>