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Article: Trillions of cicadas emerge after 17 years
- Article from:
- Charleston Gazette
- Article date:
- May 12, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2004 Charleston Gazette. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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WASHINGTON - After a 17-year nap, trillions of red-eyed insects
are crawling their way above ground in 14 states, including West
Virginia, and the nation's capital.
Loudmouthed and ugly, the cicadas will fly clumsily into pets,
bushes and unwitting pedestrians as they engage in a frenetic mating
ritual that lasts well into June.
Then they'll disappear for another 17 years.
Keith Clay, a biologist and cicada researcher at Indiana
University in Bloomington, said the appearance of cicadas is "an
amazing biological phenomenon" that nonetheless produces a "yuck
factor" for some people.
"They're not scared but see them as disgusting," he said.
The 1 1/2 inch-long black bugs with iridescent wings ...