US braces for cicadas by the trillion as two broods of periodic insects coincide

The last time Brood XIX and Brood XIII emerged from underground at the same time, Thomas Jefferson was president

They look a little like cockroaches and have bulging orange eyes, and trillions of them are about to erupt from the earth in much of the midwestern and eastern United States. The emergence of two groups of cicadas will assemble a chorus of the insects not seen in several hundred years, experts say.

The simultaneous appearance of the two cicada broods - known as Brood XIX and Brood XIII - is a rare event, not having occurred since 1803, a year when Thomas Jefferson was US president. It's really exciting. I've been looking forward to this for many years," said Catherine Dana, an entomologist who specializes in cicadas at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. For the public, it's going to be a really special experience."

This article was amended on 8 April 2024 to correct the name of Brood XIII. It was formerly written as Brood XII.