Do cicadas emerge every 17 years?
THE RED-EYED creepy crawlers are emerging from the underground, ready to sing their sci-fi-sounding mating calls.
But is this an invasion of Biblical proportions or much ado about nothing?
The Brood X cicadas can be found from Georgia to Michigan, and some parts of the Eastern United States have already seen them emerge.
If your town saw a large infestation of cicadas back in 2004, there's a good chance you will see it again in 2021.
Some counties in South New Jersey have already reported seeing cicada nymphs and cicada holes.
Brood emergence ranges from 13 to 17 years.
And some broods of cicadas have gone extinct.
Do cicadas bite people?
They may sound — and look — like vicious space invaders, but cicadas are harmless to people and pets.
Be wary of Fido getting around them, however: dogs have been known to eat cicadas, which can give them a stomachache.
And if they burrow too deep into young trees, they can kill their branches.
But when cicadas die, they fertilize the trees they die in — and the tree often blooms back bigger and better the year after a cicada brood emergence.