CHARLESTON, W.Va. — They have an unmistakable sound and they number in the millions just to continue the species. The 17 year cicadas are emerging in a large part of West Virginia this month.
“This particular brood is brood number five which is in a good portion of West Virginia from Kanawha County into the northern panhandle,” said Barry Crutchfield Entymologist for the West Virginia Department of Agriculture. “Brood five is a large brood in West Virginia.”
The insects have been underground for the last 16 and a half years developing and growing. They emerge this year fully formed and mature. Their life above ground will last just a few weeks as they breed, lay eggs, and die. For many, Crutchfield said, only that third one is in their future.
“The majority of them are going to be eaten by something,” he said. “They sort of overwhelm by numbers. They come out all at once and that allows for at least some reproduction to take place.”
Birds and some small mammals feast on the cicadas. Fish devour those that fall into the water from trees. The males get into the trees and start “singing” which sounds in many cases like a non-stop low hum. They attempt to attract a mate with their tunes. Females make no sounds, but go into the trees and cut tiny slits on the tips of branches where their eggs are laid. It damages a lot of trees in the process according to Crutchfield, but otherwise the ominous looking creatures are harmless.
“They don’t sting or bite. They don’t carry disease of any kind,” he said. “They’re harmless to humans, pets,and livestock.”
Cicadas are native to North America and there are reports of them all the way back to the days when the first European settlers arrived here. Their observations made the comparison to the Biblical references of “plagues of locusts.” Today, some still refer to the cicadas as the 17 year locust.
The eggs hatch and the offspring fall to the ground as nymphs. They will burrow into the ground and begin feeding on the roots of trees and reemerge 17 years from now to begin the life cycle all over again.