Webcast on Cicadapocalypse May 23

By My Courier-Tribune

Once in more than a decade, millions of red-eyed, buzzing bugs are or will soon be just about everywhere in much of Missouri, according to the Missouri Department of Conservation. Mass emergence of millions of periodical cicadas, which happen every 13 or 17 years, are happening this spring.

The MDC invites the community to join its free, online Wild Webcast on the Cicadapocalypse from noon to 1 p.m. Thursday, May 23.

The Wild Webcast will feature MDC Urban Wildlife Biologist Erin Shank, who will share her expertise and excitement on the happening or pending mass emergences of periodical cicadas. Periodical cicadas are different from the familiar annual cicadas, which emerge from the ground every year and make their droning noise during the heat of late summer.

The Wild Webcast will answer many questions on the mass emergences of periodical cicadas such as what are annual and periodical cicadas and how are they different? What will be happening, when and where? Why is it happening and how do they know?

Register at mdc.webex.com. An email confirmation will be sent before the event that includes information on how to join the Wild Webcast.