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Community Corner

Cicadas in Howard County? Not This Year, One Expert Says

Despite a certain brood of cicadas appearing in Maryland this year, Howard County won't see any until 2021.

A brood of cicadas will appear in Maryland over the next few weeks, though none will show in Howard County.

After 17 years underground, the Brood II cicadas will emerge, with some already popping up in North Carolina and Southern Virginia. Michael Joseph Raupp, an entomology professor at the University of Maryland, said some of the cicadas will make an appearance in the counties of St. Mary’s and Calvert, with historical evidence suggesting cicadas may also be seen in Anne Arundel County.

However, the Brood II cicadas have not made their homes in Howard County, which is why there won’t be any spotted there.

“We don’t really understand the mechanism that has determined where these broods are,” Raupp said. “It could have to do with patterns of glaciation during the time these things were evolving. What we do know with high predictability, they do occur only in specific geographic regions.”

The process is by design, though still what Raupp calls the “mystery of the cicadas.” These insects appear every 17 years to mate, which is what the singing sounds cicadas make signify. The process lasts about a month, if not longer, with female cicadas laying eggs in tree branches. Once the eggs are hatched, which generally is a few weeks after they’re laid, the cicada nymphs travel downward to burrow underground and will feed on the xylem fluid from plant roots for the next 17 years.

Though these Brood II cicadas won’t show up in Howard County, Raupp said the county can expect to see some in eight years. The Brood X cicadas live in Howard County and last appeared in 2004.

“I can guarantee Brood X in Howard County for 2021,” Raupp said.

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