Were not cicadas out last year, as well as this year?

Question

I distinctly remember playing with them, as I am nineteen, and they are 17 year hibernaters, what's the deal with the news saying they are out this year after seventeen years, when I myself actually saw them last year?
I know it is a regional thing and that, I think about 2004, they were out in Africa. Did you see cicadas last year, too?

Don't you think that the X between the head and their body reminds you of XBox?lol

Answer 1

There are different species of cicadas with different cycles. Maybe you happen to live in an area where two of them coexist.

Answer 2

I did see cicadas last year (in central New Jersey) but not this year.

If you're seeing them 2 years in a row in your area, there is probably more than one brood native to your location. One brood emerges every 17 years starting in year x, the other in year x+1.

Never thought of the XBox thing, but I started seeing Cicadas in the early 80's before anyone had ever heard of XBox.

Answer 3

There are annual as well as periodic cicadas. The annual ones on the east coast are large and green with greenish eyes. The periodic broods are smaller and black-bodied with red eyes. Periodic cicadas seem to emerge earlier in the summer, as well. It would be very odd to have separate broods of periodic cicadas in the same area, although anything is possible, I suppose.

Answer 4

There are many different broods, and a different brood is supposed to come out each year. Some are 17 year broods, and some are 13 year broods. Last year the 17 and 13 year broods coincided.