Trillions of noisy cicadas are thought to be swarming the US this spring.
But one in particular, found by an Illinois family in their backyard, has caught the attention of scientists.
The bug has a one-in-a-million genetic mutation, meaning it has gray-blue eyes instead of normal red.
Greta Bailey, from Wheaton, Illinois, said her children found the bug but initially didn’t realize it was so special.
It is now dead and has been donated to the Chicago Field Museum so that scientists can study it further.
The cicada has a ‘one in a million’ genetic mutation, meaning it has blue eyes instead of the normal red
Greta Bailey of Wheaton, Illinois, said her children found the bug but initially didn’t realize it was so special
“My four-year-old son, Jack, has been in heaven since they came up and has collected a lot of them,” Mrs Bailey said.
‘My daughter Caroline looked in his collection bucket and saw the blue-eyed one. She brought it in and showed it to me.
‘I thought it was cool and unique and had never heard of blue-eyed crickets even existing. I took a few pictures and Caroline let it go.
“Well, after we told my family about it, we found out how rare they are and we berated ourselves for not keeping them.
‘A few hours later, Caroline and her twin sister Addison took the flashlights outside to look for it where Caroline had released it.
“Amazingly, they were able to find it again and now we knew not to let it go.”
The specimen is the first blue-eyed cicada ever added to the Field Museum’s cricket collections, which date back more than a century.
Greta Bailey, of Wheaton, Illinois, and her son Jack (pictured) who originally found the specimen
Typically, crickets have bright red eyes and clear, membranous wings with black veins. Pictured is a normal cicada clinging to a tree on May 29, 2024 in Park Ridge, Illinois
Because blue-eyed cicadas are very rare, Field Museum scientists will attempt to sequence their DNA to possibly learn more about the genes responsible for the blue eyes.
Scientists divide the more than 3,000 cicada species into two groups: ‘annual’ and ‘periodic’, but it is the emergence of the latter group that is currently leading to a ‘cicada apocalypse’.
Shortly after a periodical cicada hatches from its egg, it burrows into the ground, where it spends the first 13 or 17 years of its life, depending on the species.
Once it emerges from the ground, it only lives for four to six weeks – just long enough to mate, fertilize or lay eggs, and start the cycle all over again.
In the US this spring, for the first time since 1803, the emergence of both the 13- and 17-year-old varieties coincides.
This means that more than a trillion insects will swarm across 16 US states in May and June – creating a noisy buzz as the male tries to attract a female.
This special ‘mutant’ specimen with the blue eyes is a female 17-year-old cicada (Magicicada cassini).
It will be on display at the Field Museum during cicada-themed events taking place weekly until the end of June.
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Cicada experts say the two North American variants of the species can produce an alarming call as loud as 105.9 decibels, or “as loud as a lawn mower.”
“The double emergence is a one in two or three lifetime event,” says Dr. Gene Kritsky, professor, entomologist and cicada expert at Mount St. Joseph University.
‘This happens twelve times every 221 years, but this is the first time since 1803 that these broods have emerged together.’
Elsewhere in the US, creative chefs are serving up cricket dishes that people can eat because the insect is low in fat and high in protein.
In Britain there is only one native species of cicada – the New Forest cicada – and it is endangered and rarely sighted.