The 17-Year Sound: Periodic Cicadas Expected in Missouri

BARTON COUNTY, Mo. — Later this month, folks in Missouri may witness an event in nature that occurs once every 17 years.

Periodic cicadas, that emerge every 13 or 17 years, will be out on the northern half and western edge of the “Show Me State.”

“It’s just kind of something to enjoy or endure,” says Missouri Department of Conservation Media Specialist. Francis Skalicky, “Depending on how long the noise is in your area.”

Skalicky says the “summer sound” is where the life cycle of the periodic cicada comes full circle.

After feeding off of the roots of trees for years, periodic cicadas come out of the ground –near the end of their lives– for the mating season.

“It’s a very secure system,” Skalicky says, “because whatever annual events occur in the way of food shortage, severe weather, heat, lack of water — because they’re been underground.”

The males make the noise to attract the females, with the females later cutting tiny slits in trees to lay their eggs.

“Then in about a month or so, those eggs will mature into insects that will crawl back down into the ground,” he says.

“There was a 17-year and a 13-year brood that came out in the same area of the country… but that was very rare,” Skalikcy says.

“This time they’re coming out at the same time [but] not in the same part of the Midwest,” he says.

Even though periodic cicadas will be out in abundance, this year, the reason some folks in the Ozarks may not see them could be a matter of least resistance –dating back hundreds of thousands of years.

The Ozarks are theorized to have once been huge mountains, that also had nearby water and glaciers.

Skalicky says the cicadas also chose environments that weren’t dominated by other species.

As for the purpose of the cicada, that could be a matter of the food chain.

“They’re a very abundant food source for the time they’re out, but that’s a very short period,” Skalicky says, “this is just one of those head-scratching, unique nature events.”

While the females do cut into trees, Skalicky says they rarely cause significant harm to mature trees.

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The 17-Year Sound: Periodic Cicadas Expected in Missouri