Just about the same time as Hopkins students are bugging out and heading elsewhere for the summer vacation, a species of bugs will be getting airborne for the first time in 17 years.
Millions of periodic cicada nymphs will emerge from their years of underground life in late May in Maryland, producing a racket that hasn't been heard since 1987.
One of two types of periodic cicada, the Magicicada septendecim is the insect with the longest lifespan.
The life of a cicada begins when the nymph hatches from its egg and falls to the ground.
The nymph burrows into the ground where it remains for 17 years, feeding on tiny roots.
Then the nymph emerges and climbs up a nearby tree, where it sheds and becomes an adult.
Adults then live for between four and six weeks, during which they mate.
When the female lays her eggs, she does so into slits that she cuts into twigs or tree branches.
The adults die shortly after they mate and lay their eggs, of which the female can lay up to 600. Nymphs hatch from the eggs after six weeks and burrow two to 12 inches into the ground.
Visually, this type of cicada is noticeably different than the green, dog day cicadas with which most people are familiar. They have red eyes and are mostly black with orange-veined wings.
Periodic cicadas are frequently mistaken for locusts, and some are incorrectly called 17 or 13-year locusts. Locusts are actually a type of grasshopper, but are no where near as dangerous as that species.
Before most people see these cicadas, however, they are most likely to hear their characteristic mating call.
The male cicada vibrates several plates in cavities in their abdomen, called tymbals, to produce the noise, which can be heard up to 440 yards, or 1520 feet away.
The females can also produce noise, but nothing as loud as the males. The females method of producing sound uses their wings in a quick flipping motion, which can produce a variety of sounds.
It is important to note that, while the cicadas can look intimidating, they are completely harmless, except to some trees.
They do not sting, bite or otherwise attack humans. Frequently, they can become a nuisance, with numerous dead cicadas littering people's yards. Additionally, their loud "song" tends to irritate people.
Trees and shrubs may suffer some damage from the cicadas, because of the cicada's method of planting eggs into cuts they make in new tree shoots.
Small trees and shrubs are much more vulnerable than more well-established specimens.
Recommendations for preventing damage to plants include not pruning the season prior to emergence or not covering the plants with cheesecloth to prevent egg-laying. It is also suggested to plant deciduous trees later than normal.
What most people will likely be surprised by is the sheer number of cicadas that will emerge in May.
Periodic cicadas are able to achieve population densities of up to 1.5 million per acre because of their ability to avoid predators during their lengthy underground life.
When they do emerge, predators are not able to make a dent in the population size, because there are many more cicadas than their predators (birds, spiders, snakes, dogs) can eat. This phenomenon is known as predator satiation.
While in certain areas these Magicicada emerge only once every 17 years, there are differ broods of the cicadas, which end their 17-year cycle in a staggered fashion in different geographical areas.
So while this year they will emerge here in Maryland and also in 14 other states from New York to Georgia and Indiana to the Atlantic Ocean.
This year's brood, brood X, is the most widespread of all broods.
Normally, in a given year, a brood only emerges in three to six states nationwide.
For more information on particular brood emergences, go to http://insects.ummz.lsa.umich.edu/fauna/michigan_cicadas/Periodical/Index.html.
Students at Hopkins seem unconcerned about the cicada's except for those who live in Maryland.
Freshman Aaron Schlothauer said,"They make me mad because they leave their shells on everything in our shed, when I find them I kill them."
With May being an opportune time for outdoor weddings, some couples fear that their plans for the perfect ceremony may be spoiled by the emergence of the cicadas.
Web sites have emerged to address the concern, such as http://www.dancentury.com/cicada/wedding.html, which gives detailed instructions and advice on how to avoid or deal with the cicadas.
