In case you haven’t heard, the cicadas are back. If you haven’t heard, either you don’t live in the area of their emergence, or you haven’t stepped outside recently. They are making their presence known with their loud and nearly incessant buzzing.  The buzzing is done by what comes out of this shell – read on for more.

13-year Cicada - Magicicada sp.

According to Wikipedia, there are four species of 13-year cicadas.  Cicadas are categorized by brood, based on the year they emerge from the ground, where they spend most of their existence. The broods are numbered using Roman numerals, and some are also named. The 2011 brood of 13-year cicada is known as “The Great Southern Brood”, aka Brood XIX. This is the largest of the 13-year cicada broods.

The 13-year cicada is in the Magicicada genus of insects. This newly molted cicada was photographed in Walker County, Georgia on May 14, 2011.

13-year Cicada - Magicicada sp.