First documented cicada spotted in Mississippi for 2024

CHOCTAW CO., Miss. (WLBT) – The first documented cicada was spotted in Mississippi for 2024!

According to the Mississippi State University Extension Service, it was spotted in Choctaw County this week.

MSU Extension Entomologist Dr. Blake Layton says in the South, we have three broods of 13-year cicadas, each of which occurs in its own geographic area and emerges on its own schedule. This spring, thirteen-year cicada Brood XIX, also known as the Great Southern brood, will emerge in parts of 15 states, including at least 17 counties in Mississippi.

Mississippi is the only state that has all three broods of 13-year periodic cicadas. By tradition, periodic cicada broods are numbered using Roman numerals. Brood XIX will emerge this year, Brood XXII will emerge next in 2027, and Brood XXIII in 2028.

“There are 12 broods of seventeen-year cicadas, but these occur farther north,” Dr. Layton said. “Seventeen-year cicada Brood XIII will also emerge this year in northern Illinois and a few surrounding states. But not in Mississippi! So, you don’t need to worry about parts of Mississippi having seventeen-year and thirteen-year cicadas at the same time.”

For an even more in-depth explanation of what’s to come, click here.

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