Dan Klepal
The Cincinnati Enquirer

CICADA MANIA

Cicada facts: The calendar: Cicadas usually emerge in late May, when ground temperatures exceed 64 degrees. Rain: Wet, soaking rains are necessary to soften the ground so they can poke through. Mud chimneys: Cicadas build little plateaus on the ground to escape high water. Hear cicadas: • Cicada chorus • Calling song • Send us your cicada photos Cicada Web sites • University of Michigan cicada page More cicada audio, photos, scientific information and more • Cicada Mania General resource and news site • Periodical cicadas Information on Ohio cicadas, including maps, lifecycles and recipes.

Add an extra 1 million voices to the choir.

There will be about a million more 17-year cicadas will emerge from the ground and fill the trees of Southwest Ohio with waves of song than originally thought.

Why? Apparently, some 17-year cicadas can only count to 13.

Dr. Gene Kritsky, a biology professor at the College of Mount St. Joseph and a top cicada expert, said the additional arrivals are from a different "brood" or generation of cicadas that should wait until 2008 before popping out.

That generation, called Brood XIV, is tiny compared to this year's Brood X, which will number near 5 billion in Southwest Ohio alone. The red-eyed bugs - a delicious snack for birds, dogs, cats, squirrels and even some people - will also make their periodic appearance this year in Kentucky, Indiana, Maryland, the District of Columbia, eastern Pennsylvania and Tennessee.

Kritsky said only about 10 percent of Brood XIV will emerge this year. But he thinks those early arrivals do serve a purpose: Disrupting the cycle may help the cicadas fight a fungal disease. And, he said, the insinuation of a few from the smaller brood into the larger group may help ensure the smaller group's survival.

"It really will not be noticeable," said Kritsky, who was the first person to predict the early emergence of a different brood of cicada in 2000. "I believe there must be some genetic mechanism that speeds up the development (of the early arrivals)."

The 17-year periodical cicada has been present in the eastern part of the United States throughout history.

Kritsky said he expects this year's batch to emerge around May 21, give or take a week.

By mid-June, the adult cicadas will be dead. About a month after that, eggs laid in tree branches hatch, and the young will drop to the ground and bury themselves for the next 17 years.

Unless they can only count to 13.

E-mail dklepal@enquirer.com