Cicada science heats up when Brood X emerges. 2021 was no exception
Mating madness of big, bumbling 17-year-old bugs awed East Coast nature watchers
![Brood X cicadas on a leaf](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/121821_ye_cicada_feat.jpg?resize=1440%2C700&ssl=1)
After 17 years underground, crowds of Brood X cicadas in the eastern United States dug their way up to daylight, took adult form and flirted in loud crowds. These beauties were seen in Burtonsville, Md., on June 1.
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