Cicadas are emerging in Middle Tennessee

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — It’s been 13 years since millions of cicadas took over Middle Tennessee. A few have been spotted emerging from the ground in Murfreesboro, and more are on the way .

The cicadas emerge from beneath the surface for the adult emergence stage.

“They’ll come out of the ground, crawl up on an object usually where they can find a secure place to emerge from the last nymphal exoskeleton, and then they’ll begin to harden their wings and spread those wings. Those will fly to tree canopies usually,” said Jason Oliver, Research Professor of Entomology at TSU. “Males will begin to group in tree canopies and start chorusing and producing, that’s going to be the loud noise that everybody is going to be hearing.”

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The loud noise is created by the male insects to attract the females. The females cut little slits in tree branches to lay their eggs and they can lay up to 60 eggs per notch in a branch. The eggs hatch anywhere from 15 days to a month.

They look like ants once they hatch and then they’ll start digging back into the ground to find a tree root to attach themselves to.

There are two different broods coming out of the ground this year; 13-year and 17-year. Middle Tennessee will experience the millions from the 13-year brood . The overlapping broods will be heard across Central Illinois.

Fun fact — the two different broods don’t mate. Each species has a specific buzzing noise to attract females of their own type.

Dr. Oliver said the insects will be the loudest when the majority of the cicadas are out of the ground and in the adult stage.

“ The adult stage will probably be about six weeks, but they won’t all come out on the same date so that could extend it a little bit later into June. You know we might be, I would imagine that by July the noise level will be going down but probably mid-June most of them will be starting to decline.”

Right when these cicadas make their exit, the Annular Dog Day cicadas will replace them in July and August. These insects go back into the ground by September and will be much more quiet than the 13-year brood. They are more quiet because there are fewer of them.

“The one we hear every summer, you know, that makes that screeching sound those are called Annular Dog Day Cicadas. They don’t really have annual life cycles, they’re in the ground also for four to seven years but they have overlapping generations. So, there are always some out every summer which is why we call them annual cicadas,” said Dr. Oliver.

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One of the most interesting things about these critters is how they know when it has been 13 years or 17 years so they can emerge. Once underground they attach themselves to a tree root to get little nutrients.

“The best evidence for that is the sap flow cycles within the tree clue them in to, you know, we’ve had thirteen years, you know, how do they know it’s been thirteen years, or we’ve had seventeen years? And the other weird thing is I guess the seventeen year [ cicada ] has a way to delay its development for four years during the second nymphal stage and then it resumes growth again. So that’s how it basically blocks out four years extra time,” Oliver explained.

The cicadas will provide a noisy month for Tennesseans and food for birds.

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