(INDEPENDENT U.K.) – More than a trillion cicadas are about to descend on the U.S. thanks to a rare natural phenomenon. The simultaneous emergence of two enormous adjacent broods of periodical cicadas has not happened since 1803. More than a trillion of the noisy bugs are set to pop out of the ground starting around late April.
The two different broods – one emerging every 13 years and another with a 17-year cycle – will emerge from the soil to mate for the first time in 221 years, scientists said.
These two broods last emerged in the same year in 1803. The next time is set for 2245. Cicadas occupy almost every continent across the world except Antarctica and there are over 3,000 different species of the insect.
