SEX-crazed cicadas carrying a genital-destroying STD are due to swarm their way into Chicago in just weeks.
The bugs have invaded certain states in the US since their once-per-221-year mating frenzy began in late April.
The two species have been found with the viral STD, called Massospora cicadina, in southern parts of Illinois.
Brood XIII cicadas are mostly in Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin, while Brood XIX is found south and east from there.
The fungal infection targets only the 13-17-year periodical cicadas.
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It invades male cicadas and causes their gonads to be ripped from their bodies.
The chalky spores from the fungus are then released and spread to nearby bugs, sharing the infection.
Infected cicadas have already been found in Champaign, Illinois, according to Jim Louderman, a collection's assistant at Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History, per The Hill.
They are expected to migrate north and spread the STD to the Chicago area.
Experts in Missouri say cicadas there have already been affected by the fungus.
Periodical cicadas lay their eggs in tree branches and when they hatch, the babies drop the the ground and burrow into the soil where they will live for 13 to 17 years, depending on their species.
Under the ground, they will drink sap from tree roots until it's their time to emerge.
Scientists are not clear when the insects are exposed to the spores of the fungus.
It could happen when they enter the ground as babies or when they leave it.
Massospora cicadina only affects the 13 to 17 year bugs, so humans are safe from the infection, according to CNN.
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'CLUMP OF SPORES'
One expert compared the mass of fungal spores attached to a cicada's body to a popular seasonal candy.
Once the spores are in the insect's body, they are fully controlled by the infection.
At some point, the back end of the cicada, including its genitals, falls off.
In its place, "a clump of spores that are erupting out of where the genitals and abdomen once were,” Dr. Matt Kasson, an associate professor of mycology and forest pathology at West Virginia University, told CNN.
"It looks like there’s a gumdrop that’s been dropped in chalk dust, glued to the backside of these cicadas."
MATING MADNESS
Despite having spores instead of genitalia, the insects are just as energized to mate with each other.
The fungus manipulates the cicada, causing it to be hypersexual.
Male insects continue to try and mate with females and they also change their behavior to attract other males.
"It turns infected cicadas into 'zombie insects' that disperse more fungus by causing males infected with Stage I [of emergence] to produce wing-flick signals as if they were females– making them highly attractive to cicadas of both sexes," the University of Connecticut explained, per The Hill.
However, when an infected cicada tries to mate, they are only spreading the fungus.
"Periodical cicadas have interlocking genitalia. So when they pull apart, guess what happens? Rip," Dr. John Cooley, an associate professor in residence of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Connecticut, Hartford, explained to CNN.
"And then there’s a cicada walking around with someone else’s genitals stuck to them. And now the cicada that’s infected is busted open."
Once the fungal "gumball" is ripped out, the infected cicada flies around, disemboweled, raining fluffy spores everywhere.
"We call them the saltshakers of death," Kasson said.
The spores go on to infect the next generation of cicadas that will emerge and restart the STD cycle.
'ZOMBIES'
Experts were racking their brains about where cicadas got their energy from to mate while having half of their bodies ripped off.
After examining the fugal plugs, they may have found an answer.
"We found an amphetamine in those fungal plugs, which provides a plausible explanation as to why the behavioral modification is occurring,” Kasson told CNN.
Amphetamines are powerful stimulants in humans so this would line up with how it is affecting the small bugs, though they are still uncertain.
"We’re left with this problem, that it’s making a powerful psychoactive chemical, but the powerful psychoactive chemical may not do anything to the insects," Cooley said.
He suggested the fungus may control the cicadas differently and the amphetamines it produces may be used to ward off predators while in a vulnerable state such as birds.
'NO!'
Residents in the states where cicadas have taken over are not looking forward to insects with viral STDs.
"NO!" wrote an X, formerly known as Twitter, user when they read about the infection.
"I did not have that on my 2024 bingo card," remarked a second.
"Bruh. Just this morning as I was leaf blowing them off the drive I saw one with its lower half missing crawling around screeching," shared another.
"Zombie cicadas is totally on brand for 2024," said a commenter.
"I thought this was clickbait. I wanted this to be clickbait," remised another.
