What to know about Brood XIV cicadas ahead of their emergence

CINCINNATI (WXIX) - The first local sightings of Brood XIV cicadas have been spotted, according to a report on a free app called Cicada Safari.

The app was created by Dr. Gene Kritsky, an author and biology professor at Mount St. Joseph University, to map where certain species of cicadas have been reported. These reports are a keystone in cicada research.

The familiar sounds most people associate with cicadas come from the males, and experts say they make it to attract their mates.

“At a large emergence, you’ll see a million and a half cicadas per acre - that’s acreage under trees,” Dr. Kritsky says. “That’s a million and a half cicadas.”

Cicadas are at the bottom of the food chain, with beetles, ants and spiders all feasting on nymph cicadas.

Cicadas evolved to reproduce by the thousands, so more of them survive to become adults.

“The average tree will have probably 40,000 eggs in it, and probably only 5,000 to 7,000 eggs will have nymphs come out of the ground,” Dr. Krinsky says. “So, the mortality underground is very intense.”

Dr. Kritsky says cicadas are not necessarily pests, as they don’t hurt gardens, won’t carry disease, and won’t bite, but they do impact the ecology around them that homeowners need to know about.

“I would advise any homeowner this year, especially on the east side of Cincinnati, who was planning on replacing some trees, do it after the First of July,” Dr. Kritsky says. “If they have to be in an area where there’s a large emergence, all these cicadas will fly in and start laying their eggs in the few branches they have, and that will kill the small tree.”

May 12 is the general forecast date for cicadas to emerge from the ground.

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