Brood XIII

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Map of periodic cicada broods with Brood XIII shown in brown
Brood XIII Magicicada
Brood XIII Magicicada molting from its old exoskeleton

Brood XIII (also known as Brood 13 or Northern Illinois Brood) is one of 15 separate broods of periodical cicadas that appear regularly throughout the midwestern United States. Every 17 years, Brood XIII tunnels en masse to the surface of the ground, mates, lays eggs in tree twigs, and then dies off over several weeks.

Entomologist Charles Lester Marlatt published an account in 1907 in which he postulated the existence of 30 broods. The number has since been consolidated, and only 15 broods of periodical cicadas are currently recognized. Of these, twelve (Broods I through X, XIII, and XIV) are 17-year broods and three (Broods XIX, XXII, and XXIII) are 13-year broods.[1] Brood XI is extinct and Brood XII is not currently recognized as a brood of 17-year cicadas.[2]

The 4 cm (1.6 in) long black bugs do not sting or bite. Once they emerge, they spend their two-week lives climbing trees, shedding their exoskeletons and reproducing. Brood XIII can number up to 1.5 million per acre (3.7 million per hectare). The brood is reputed to be the largest emergence of cicadas known anywhere.[3]

The brood's most recent major emergence occurred during the spring and early summer of 2024, throughout an area roughly enclosed by northern Illinois, eastern Iowa, southern Wisconsin, and a narrow strip of Indiana bordering Lake Michigan and Michigan.[3] A premature emergence occurred in 2020.[4] The brood will emerge again in late May 2041.[2][3][5]

Ravinia

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In the northern Chicago suburb of Highland Park, there was a concern about whether the cicadas's sounds might drown out the music at the Ravinia Festival during May and June, the peak months of cicada activity in 2007. According to the Chicago Tribune, Ravinia adjusted the schedule so that Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) concerts took place in July, after the emergence had ended. Apart from the CSO concerts, all other events took place as scheduled.[6]

2020 Sub-Brood

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Some of the Northern Illinois Sub-Brood (part of Marlatt's XIII) cicadas emerge 4 years early, as they did in the Chicago area during 2020.[4]

2024 emergence

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Brood XIII of the 17-year cicada, which reputably has the largest emergence of cicadas by size known anywhere, and Brood XIX of the 13-year cicada, arguably the largest (by geographic extent) of all periodical cicada broods, were expected to emerge together in 2024 for the first time since 1803. However, the two broods were not expected to overlap except potentially in a thin area in central and eastern Illinois (Macon, Sangamon, Livingston, and Logan counties). Therefore, the density of cicadas in most areas would likely have been the same as usual.[7] The next such dual emergence is expected to occur in 2245, 221 years after 2024.[8]

Pests and parasites

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Pyemotes herfsi bites

After the 2007 Brood XIII emergence had ended, many people in Chicago's suburbs reported in early August the development of rashes, pustules, intense itching and other skin conditions on their upper torso, head, neck and arms. Rashes and itching peaked after several days, but lasted as long as two weeks. Anti-itch treatments, including calamine lotion and topical steroid creams, did not relieve the itching.[9]

Edmond Zaborski, a research scientist with the Illinois Natural History Survey, then discovered that the skin conditions had resulted from oak leaf gall mite ("itch mite") (Pyemotes herfsi) bites. Zaborski further found that the mites were ectoparasites whose numbers had increased while feeding on the brood's eggs.[9]

The mites usually feed on oak leaf gall midge (Polystepha pilulae) larvae and other insects, but, as Zaborski found, also parasitize periodical cicada eggs when those are available. Similar events occurred in Cincinnati after a Brood XIV emergence ended in 2008,[10] in Cleveland and elsewhere in northern and eastern Ohio after a Brood V emergence ended in 2016,[11] in the Washington, D.C., area after a Brood X emergence ended in 2021,[12] and again in the Chicago area after the next Brood XIII emergence ended in 2024.[13]

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  • Brood XIII Magicicada in various stages of molting.
    Brood XIII Magicicada in various stages of molting.
  • Brood XIII instar
    Brood XIII instar
  • Newly molted Brood XIII
    Newly molted Brood XIII
  • A group of Brood XIII Magicicada on a bush
    A group of Brood XIII Magicicada on a bush
  • Brood XIII in Westchester, Illinois, on June 21, 2007
    Brood XIII in Westchester, Illinois, on June 21, 2007
  • Brood XIII Magicicada at Brookfield Zoo in May 2024
    Brood XIII Magicicada at Brookfield Zoo in May 2024
  • Brood XIII at Springbrook Nature Center, Itasca in June 2024
    Brood XIII at Springbrook Nature Center, Itasca in June 2024

References

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  1. ^ Susan L. Post. "A Trill of a Lifetime". Illinois Natural History Survey. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois. Archived from the original on 2012-05-11. Retrieved 2024-01-25.
  2. ^ a b David Marshall, John Cooley, Chris Simon (2024). "Magicicada broods and distributions". Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Cicadas. Storrs, Connecticut: University of Connecticut. Retrieved 2024-01-25.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ a b c Schuster, James; Nixon, Philip. "Timed to perfection: Cicada's biological clock determines emergence". Insects: Cicadas. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences: Illinois Extension. Archived from the original on March 10, 2024. Retrieved March 12, 2024. The northern Illinois brood, which will emerge in late May 2024, has a reputation for the largest emergence of cicadas known anywhere. This is due to the size of the emergence and the research and subsequent reporting over the years by entomologists Monte Lloyd and Henry Dybas at the Field Museum in Chicago. During the 1956 emergence, they counted an average of 311 nymphal emergence holes per square yard of ground in a forested floodplain near Chicago. This translates to 1½ million cicadas per acre. In upland sites, they recorded 27 emergence holes per square yard, translating to about 133,000 per acre. This number is more typical of emergence numbers but is still a tremendous number of insects. .... 2020 | Northern Illinois Sub-Brood (part of Marlatt's XIII)
  4. ^ a b "Chicago Area Periodical Cicada Emergences in 2020". Cicada Mania. Retrieved 2024-04-10.
  5. ^ "Genus Magicidada: periodical cicadas". Singing Insects of North America. Gainesville, Florida: University of Florida. Archived from the original on December 10, 2008. Retrieved October 26, 2011.
  6. ^ "Cicadas' Return Worries Festival Organizer". NPR. 2007-03-14. Retrieved 2024-02-13.
  7. ^ Multiple sources:
    • "2024 Cicada Forecast". Cicada Mania. February 10, 2024. Archived from the original on March 8, 2024. Retrieved March 13, 2024. Both Brood XIX and XIII exist in Macon, Sangamon, Livingston and Logan counties in Illinois. The easily accessible place they come closest to overlapping is Springfield, Illinois, which is in Sangamon County.
    • "Genus Magicidada: periodical cicadas". Singing Insects of North America. Gainesville, Florida: University of Florida. Archived from the original on December 10, 2008. Retrieved October 26, 2011.
    • Schuster, James; Nixon, Philip. "Timed to perfection: Cicada's biological clock determines emergence". Insects: Cicadas. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences: Illinois Extension. Archived from the original on March 10, 2024. Retrieved March 12, 2024. The northern Illinois brood, which will emerge in late May 2024, has a reputation for the largest emergence of cicadas known anywhere. This is due to the size of the emergence and the research and subsequent reporting over the years by entomologists Monte Lloyd and Henry Dybas at the Field Museum in Chicago. During the 1956 emergence, they counted an average of 311 nymphal emergence holes per square yard of ground in a forested floodplain near Chicago. This translates to 1½ million cicadas per acre. In upland sites, they recorded 27 emergence holes per square yard, translating to about 133,000 per acre. This number is more typical of emergence numbers but is still a tremendous number of insects.
    • "The 2024 Periodical Cicada Emergence". Biodiversity Research Collections: Periodical Cicada Information Pages. Storrs, Connecticut: University of Connecticut. Archived from the original on March 12, 2024. Retrieved March 13, 2024. In 2024, 13-year Brood XIX, which is the largest of all periodical cicada broods, will co-emerge with 17-year Brood XIII; these two broods are adjacent (but not significantly overlapping) in north-central Illinois.
    • "Brood XIX: The Great Southern Brood". Biodiversity Research Collections: Periodical Cicada Information Pages. Storrs, Connecticut: University of Connecticut. Archived from the original on February 24, 2024. Retrieved March 13, 2024. Brood XIX is arguably the largest (by geographic extent) of all periodical cicada broods, with records along the east coast from Maryland to Georgia and in the Midwest from Iowa to Oklahoma.
  8. ^ Multiple sources:
  9. ^ a b Multiple sources:
  10. ^ Multiple sources:
    • Shetlar, Dave (August 29, 2016). "Oak Itch Mites Attack!". Buckeye Yard and Garden Online. Ohio State University Extension, College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, Ohio State University. Archived from the original on January 22, 2024. Retrieved September 3, 2024. Folks in Northeastern Ohio complain of itchy welts on their heads, neck and upper torso. The oak itch mite, Pyemotes herfsi, has been identified as the culprit. The last time Ohio suffered an outbreak was in 2008 in the Cincinnati area. At that time, walkers, joggers and cyclists were complaining that when they followed trails that were overhung by oak trees, they would end up with itchy welts the following day. At that time, the oak itch mite had been recorded as being a periodic pest from Nebraska to Texas and eastward to Tennessee. The bites were most common in July and August, but the following summer, there were no complaints!
    • "Cincinnati braces for cicada swarm". The Columbus Dispatch. Columbus, Ohio. April 30, 2008. Archived from the original on September 3, 2024. Retrieved September 3, 2024. Cicadas, those big, noisy, clumsy, red-eyed bugs that periodically swarm sections of Ohio, will be emerging again in just a few weeks. This year's infestation will be the heaviest in Cincinnati-area neighborhoods around and east of I-71, experts say. ... In all, the cicadas will swarm throughout south central Ohio, the entire eastern half of Kentucky and parts of 10 other states. These are the babies of the cicada family named Brood XIV. Known as 17-year cicadas, their last emergence occurred in 1991.
    • Cooley, John R.; Kritsky, Gene; Edwards, Marten J.; et al. (Fall 2011). "Periodical cicadas Periodical cicadas (Magicicada spp.): A GIS-based map of Broods XIV in 2008 and "XV" in 2009" (PDF). American Entomologist. 57 (3): 144–150. Retrieved September 3, 2024. The largest section of Brood XIV was found in a contiguous region roughly occupying portions of the Ohio Valley, part of the Cumberland Plateau, and the mountains to its south and east.
  11. ^ Multiple sources:
  12. ^ Multiple sources
  13. ^ Multiple sources:
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