Rare Blue-eyed Cicada Spotted At Suburban Chicago Arboretum
HuffPost
The 2024 cicada emergence is underway in Illinois.
LISLE, Ill. (AP) — It was late morning when The Morton Arboretum’s Senior Horticulturist Kate Myroup arrived at the Children’s Garden with a special guest: a rare, blue-eyed female Magicicada cassini cicada, spotted earlier in the day by a visitor.
A lucky few saw the cicada Friday at the arboretum in Lisle, Illinois, before its release back into the world in suburban Chicago to join its red-eyed relatives, the more common look for most cicada species, as the 2024 cicada emergence gets underway.
As the enclosure opened, the blue-eyed lady took flight into a tree. The unique bug then flew down to land on the pants of Stephanie Adams, plant health care leader. Intrigued young guests snapped photos.
“It’s a casualty of the job,” said Adams, who frequently is decorated with the bugs.
Floyd W. Shockley, collections manager of the Department of Entomology at the Smithsonian Institute, said the blue-eyed cicada is rare, but just how rare is uncertain.