After 17 Years Underground, Billions of Cicadas Are Emerging. Villanova Biologists Can Speak to Their Reproductive Biology

The 2013 Cicada InvasionAfter 17 years of underground hibernation, billions of cicadas, from North Carolina to New York, are starting to emerge as the spring weather warms soil temperatures to 64 degrees Fahrenheit. They stay above ground for only five to six weeks during which they molt, mate and die, and then their offspring head back underground for another 17 years. Villanova Biologists Bob Curry, Ph.D. and Vik Iyengar, Ph.D. can speak to the reproductive biology and colony of the species.