It says by early May, the 13-year cicadas will emerge from hibernation much earlier than their "dog-day" cicada counterparts that typically arrive in late summer.
The department says the periodical cicadas spend 13 years in the ground feeding on sap from tree roots before emerging en masse.
The 13-year cicada is much smaller, but noticeably louder. They'll gather in trees over a single acre chanting their mating calls.
They have dark bodies and reddish eyes.
The last time the Show-Me State saw the 13-year cicadas was in 1998 -- a particularly large brood.
This go-round, they're expected to cover most of the state. The department says the Bootheel and parts of northwest Missouri will escape them.
