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This isn t one of THOSE years for cicadas in Iowa, where millions maybe billions of the bugs emerge after 17 years underground.
But cicadas in Brood X, one of the largest broods of periodical cicadas, are coming to the surface soon in Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Ohio, and eastern Tennessee, and some may stray as far west as Iowa.
So now s a good time to remind yourself that the bugs may be big, loud and annoying, but they re not dangerous.
Here are common myths about cicadas, debunked.
Myth: Cicadas are locusts
When a mass of cicadas shows up outside their home almost as if overnight, some people associate the emergence, much like the Biblical plague of locusts, with a bad omen.
No, they won t bite: Here are 7 common myths about cicadas debunked London Gibson, Des Moines Register
Here s what to know about the billions of cicadas Brood X that will soon be emerging
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This isn t one of THOSE years for cicadas in Iowa, where millions maybe billions of the bugs emerge after 17 years underground.
But cicadas in Brood X, one of the largest broods of periodical cicadas, are coming to the surface soon in Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Ohio, and eastern Tennessee, and some may stray as far west as Iowa.
So now s a good time to remind yourself that the bugs may be big, loud and annoying, but they re not dangerous.
Expect a pretty quiet summer in Iowa, at least as far as cicadas are concerned.
Some of the big, loud bugs will emerge, as they do every year. But there will be no large broods to cause a noisy infestation here.
Other parts of the country won t be so lucky. With one of the biggest broods of periodical cicadas, the Great Eastern Brood (Brood X), emerging after 17 years underground, billions of the bugs will fill skies and cover trees in Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Ohio, and eastern Tennessee, according to the U.S. Forest Service.
While Brood X awakens, the main colony of cicadas that takes over Iowa every 17 years remains asleep.
Indianapolis Star
INDIANAPOLIS – During the last emergence of Brood X cicadas in 2004, biology professor Martin Edwards and his students strapped up their hiking boots and ventured into the trees carrying big, fat Garmin GPS units and old-fashioned paper maps with pencils and notebooks.
If they saw the red-eyed bugs or heard the cicadas distinctive buzzing, they would jot down their coordinates with pencil and paper. So it would come as no surprise that the maps were incomplete, said Edwards with Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania.
But with tens of millions of Brood X cicadas set to reemerge this year, 17 years later, there will be something a little different: Everyday citizens can take part in recording this event in history.