Possible New Brood of Cicada

FAIRFAX, Va. (May 6, 2014) –  Cicadas are still a puzzle to many in the science world. No other insect is known to spend more than a decade hidden in the ground, only emerging to mate and die in one summer.

Scientists have tracked broods, or groups, of cicadas over the past two centuries to predict their emergence in 13- or 17-year cycles. Finding new broods is extremely rare, but one entomologist in Ohio believes he did just that.

Dr. Gene Kritsky believes a 13-year brood has been overlooked because it has coincidentally emerged with two different 17-year broods. Kritsky is asking people in southern Ohio and northern Kentucky to help track this new brood should it emerge in early summer.