Illinois Cicadas 2024: Do dead cicadas smell bad?

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — If you get cicadas in your yard (or home) this summer, you’ll probably know it by both their distinctive sound and the “putrid, rotting smell” they leave behind as they die.

Billions of cicadas are emerging across Illinois in a rare double emergence that hasn’t happened in 221 years.

Brood XIII and Brood XIX are both emerging at the same time, an event that hasn’t happened since the time of President Thomas Jefferson.

Cicadas don’t bite or sting and are generally harmless to humans, pets, and most plants.

However, the cacophony of noise cicadas produce can reach volume levels of 110 dB, which is as loud as a rock concert .

“The male makes the noise,” said University of Illinois Extension Educator Russ Higgins. “It actually does that by using a tymbal, which is in its abdomen. It actually flexes that tymbal with its muscles and it causes a vibration, which actually is amplified through their abdomen, and they’re trying to attract a girlfriend.”

Cicadas only live for about six weeks. After their mating ritual, they begin to die off.

According to pest control company Terminix , dead cicadas emit a terrible stench, and when a lot of them die in the same place it can “smell like roadkill,” entomologist John Cooley said .

Janelle Iaccino, with Rose Pest Solutions, said decomposing cicada bodies provide nourishment to the soil, their burrow holes in the ground help aerate your lawn, and animals like birds, opossums, and raccoons will also benefit from the additional, easily accessible food source.

Iaccino said homeowners should make sure any open windows or doors are sealed with a well-maintained screen. She said it’s also a good idea to cover patio furniture, pool, and hot tub.

She said the accumulation of exoskeletons clogging gutters could lead to standing water which could attract what she considers to be an actual threat, mosquitoes.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to MyStateline | WTVO News, Weather and Sports.