Trillions of red-eyed cicadas are emerging across the eastern U.S. this spring — but hidden among them are a handful of "one in a million" blue-eyed bugs, recent sightings show.
Earlier this month, 4-year-old Jack Bailey from Wheaton, Illinois, discovered a blue-eyed cicada in his family's yard. Experts at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago identified the specimen as a female Brood XIII cicada belonging to the species Magicicada cassini. Brood XIII cicadas are made up of three species and emerge every 17 years to mate. This year, for the first time since 1803, Brood XIII cicadas are appearing at the same time as Brood XIX, which comprises four species and emerges every 13 years.
