Spring 2021 emergence of Brood X cicadas: Indiana University experts available to comment

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — A spectacular event that occurs once every 17 years is anticipated to begin in late April or early May. Brood X — composed of three species of periodical cicadas — will emerge from the ground in the eastern United States, including south-central Indiana. After spending 17 years underground as juveniles, billions of the cicadas will emerge for a cacophonous population explosion above ground, where they transform into adults, mate, lay eggs and die off after about four to six weeks. Indiana University experts in biology and ecology are available to comment on this rare phenomenon. 

Keith Clay

Expert areas: Ticks, tick-borne disease, invasive species, environment, movement ecology, microbial symbiosis, disease and host ecology.

A distinguished professor emeritus in the Indiana University Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Biology, Keith Clay is a leader in the field of biology focused on studying how symbiotic relationships between organisms affect larger-scale ecological and evolutionary processes.

• Phone: 504-865-5563
• Email: [email protected]

Armin Moczek

Expert areas: Insect biology, entomology, insect identification, evolutionary biology, developmental biology.

Armin Moczek, an internationally recognized expert on evolutionary development, is a professor of biology in the College of Arts and Sciences at IU Bloomington. He studies why and how developmental evolution has unfolded the way it has, why and how novel complex traits originated when they did, and the future of developmental evolution on a rapidly changing planet.

• Phone: 812-856-1468
• Email: [email protected]

Richard Phillips

Expert areas: Ecosystem ecology, biogeochemistry, carbon cycling, nutrient cycling, plant-soil interactions, soil ecology, global change ecology.

Richard Phillips is a professor of biology in the College of Arts and Sciences at IU Bloomington and the science director of the IU Research and Teaching Preserve. His research broadly seeks to quantify and better understand how plants and soil microbes influence energy flow and nutrient cycling in terrestrial ecosystems in the wake of human-accelerated environmental change.

• Phone: 812-856-0593
• Email: [email protected]

For more information, contact Kirk Johannesen at [email protected] or 812-855-2193, or Terri Greene at [email protected] or 812-856-1476.