After days of delay due to colder than usual weather, large numbers of cicadas from Brood XIX appeared on trees, walkways, and walls across campus. The cicadas, which rely on ambient heat to warm their bodies, require the soil temperature to reach 64ºF before they can emerge. Cicada enthusiasts on note that recent cool temperatures across the Southeast have delayed the emergence of the cicadas.
Although cicada species live throughout the world, they only emerge in periodic thirteen or seventeen year 'broods' in the eastern United States. The cicadas currently emerging on the Vanderbilt campus and across the Southeast compose Brood XIX, or the Great Southern Brood, which is believed to be the largest periodic cicada brood in the world.
After emerging, the cicadas climb onto a nearby tree or wall and shed their outer shell. This molting process leaves the cicadas soft and white until their final shell hardens and darkens. Once fully matured, the cicadas will sing and mate for approximately four to six weeks before laying eggs and dying. This life cycle will ultimately leave discarded shells and dead cicadas littered across campus.
Though cicadas are unable to bite or sting, some people find their loud mating choruses to be distracting. Many graduated seniors were happy for the delay in their emergence, which kept graduation week free from the loud choruses.
