WASHINGTON — They have spent close to two decades buried underground, waiting for the right moment to emerge — before pouring forth by the billions, filling the air with an ear-piercing racket and covering walls and floors from the US east coast to the Midwest.
No, it’s not a horror film — well, not exactly — but rather the regular, if very infrequent, arrival of the cicada, a thumb-sized insect with alarmingly wide-set eyes and membranous wings.
Their unnerving arrival is as spectacular as it is rare. Every 17 years, these “periodical” cicadas emerge just long enough to mate, lay eggs… and die.
“It was like science fiction,” said Melanie Asher, who lives in the Washi…
Keep on reading: Americans brace for a rare and creepy billion-bug invasion