NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — It’s been 13 years since millions of cicadas took over Middle Tennessee. A few have been spotted emerging from the ground in Murfreesboro, and more are on the way .
The cicadas emerge from beneath the surface for the adult emergence stage.
“They’ll come out of the ground, crawl up on an object usually where they can find a secure place to emerge from the last nymphal exoskeleton, and then they’ll begin to harden their wings and spread those wings. Those will fly to tree canopies usually,” said Jason Oliver, Research Professor of Entomology at TSU. “Males will begin to group in tree canopies and start coursing and producing, that’s going to be the loud noise that everybody is going to be hearing.”
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The loud noise is created by the male insects to attract the females. The females cut little slits in tree branches to lay their eggs and they can lay up to 60 eggs per notch in a branch. The eggs hatch anywhere from 15 days to a month.