Every 13 or 17 years, billions of cicadas burst from the ground simultaneously, fill the air with a deafening chorus, mate, lay eggs, and die — all within a few weeks. The timing is not random. These insects have, through evolution, locked themselves to prime numbers, and the reason why is one of the most elegant examples of natural selection doing something that looks suspiciously like mathematics. Photo by Mr. Great Heart on Unsplash What Are Periodical Cicadas — and How Are They Different? Not All Cicadas Are the Same Most people have heard cicadas in summer and assumed they show up every year. That is true for 'annual' cicadas, which actually have multi-year life cycles but emerge in overlapping cohorts so some are always present. Periodical cicadas are a completely different story. Found only in eastern North America, they belong to the genus Magicicada and spend almost their entire lives underground as nymphs, feeding on tree ro...
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