Insects emerge from 17-year slumber to invade US

After a 17-year nap, trillions of red-eyed insects are crawling their way above ground in 14 US states and the US capital.

Loudmouthed and ugly, the cicadas will fly clumsily into pets, bushes and unwitting pedestrians as they engage in a frenetic mating ritual that lasts well into June. Then they’ll disappear for another 17 years.

Keith Clay, a biologist and cicada researcher, said the appearance of cicadas is “an amazing biological phenomenon”.