Millions of these loud red-eyed critters are coming to SC soon. Here’s where some were already seen

They’ve been underground long enough.

After 13 years, Brood XIX cicadas are starting to emerge in South Carolina, including a sighting around Lake Murray near Dreher Island State Park.

Eric Benson, retired entomology professor and extension specialist at Clemson University, said he received photos of the insect at Lake Murray and has heard they’ve been seen in the area straddling the state line near Augusta, Georgia.

Cicada Mania website said the first reported incidence this year of Brood XIX nymph emerging was at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on April 8.

By the time all have emerged, there could be millions of red-eyed Brood XIX cicadas, also known as the Great Southern Brood, in the trees. There will also be the run-of-the-mill yearly cicadas.

If you haven’t heard them yet, you will.

“The males don’t start singing immediately,” Benson said. “It takes them several days after emerging from the soil and molting before they sing.”

Singing means the male is seeking a mate.

The sound can be deafening. In some instances as loud as a chainsaw.

Once impregnated the females sit on a branch of a tree, often oak, tulip poplar or maple, and lay the eggs, which hatch in six to seven weeks. Then the adults die and the babies drop to the ground and begin burrowing to find their sustenance, usually a tree root.

The cycle begins anew.

The annual cicada and Brood XIX are easy to distinguish. The ones that come out every year are green and black with black eyes and are about 2 inches long. Slightly smaller, Brood XIX are vibrant, with orange veins in their wings and red eyes.

Chances are if you live in an urban area, you’re not going to see many, but for those in rural areas from Columbia to northwestern South Carolina (and other parts of the Southeast), they will be plentiful.

Benson said they are an important piece of the ecosystem and a sign of health. They’re also a source of food for a variety of animals and their carcasses release nutrients into the soil.

They don’t carry disease and are not harmful to humans or pets.

This year is special because two broods will emerge from underground at the same time — Brood XIX and Brood XIII, though the two broods come close they don’t overlap.

Brood XIII, emerging after 17 years, is in the Midwest.