Hello, this isWild Suzhou.

Today, we will betalking about Brood X, also called Brood 10, which is a group of cicadas thatwill be emerging in North America this year, 2021.

First, what is sospecial about Brood 10, and what makes it different from other species ofcicadas? Usually, cicadas have life cycles that are 2 to 5 years long. They areunderground for most of their lives until the weather gets warm and adultcicadas emerge to breed. Brood 10 has a 17-year life cycle.

Brood 10 is justone group, however. There are around a dozen other broods, but Brood 10 will bethe one emerging this year. The last time this group emerged was in 2004, 17years ago. Brood 10 is part of a North American genus of cicadas, known asMagicicada. They are unique among cicadas since their life cycles are 13 or 17years long, which is much longer than the typical 2 to 5-year life cycles ofmost cicadas. Of the 3,000 species of cicadas, there are only 7 species ofthese so-called “periodical cicadas”.

No one reallyknows why Brood 10 and related species do this, but we do know how they manageto be consistent with their 17-year life cycle. Cicada nymphs live undergroundand they feed on the liquids from plant roots. Most cicadas will mature fasterand emerge more frequently. Additionally, they don’t emerge at the same time.Periodical cicadas, all mature at the same pace and therefore emerge at thesame time. They do this by counting the seasonal pulses of liquids that flowthrough the plant roots they feed on. Once they finish 13 or 17 cycles, theywait until the temperature is right and they emerge all at the same time.

For Wild Suzhou,I’m Ciana, thanks for listening and see you next time.