Millions of cicadas have begun to emerge from the ground across the eastern United States, where they will live for about three weeks before dying — unless they are eaten first.
Billions — and possibly trillions — of cicadas will continue to appear in the coming weeks to reproduce before dying after spending 17 years underground feasting on tree and plant roots.
For chef Tobias Padovano, the once-every-17-year emergence presents a delicious and nutritious opportunity.
Foraging for the key ingredient for his taco special in suburban Virginia, chef Padovano plucked cicadas one by one off a tree and a nearby house encrusted with the insects.
"This guy [cicada] here is awesome. He's going to make a great taco," Mr Padovano, 43, said, placing the cicada in a plastic bag that started to undulate as the pile of insects moved.
"Fresh from the trees, fresh from the ground. One of the great things about these are they're a great source of protein," he said, adding that eating insects was much better for the planet than raising cows for meat.
The almost four-centimetre-long black insects with bright red eyes and iridescent wings are emerging from the earth in 15 US states in the East and Midwest.
Some places already are overloaded, with singing bugs covering walls and trees. Elsewhere, the ground hasn’t warmed enough for the cicadas to come out en masse.
Seventeen years a juvenile, three weeks of adulthood
Periodical cicadas burrow into the ground after hatching, some digging as far as 2.4 metres below ground.
While underground, the nymphs suck the sap from tree roots for nourishment and after 17 years, they emerge and climb trees and shrubs, where they shed their crunchy skins and harden into maturity.
They hold the record for the "longest juvenile period of any insect," wrote University of Maryland entomologist Michael Raupp on his website The Bug Guy.
Most of these bugs will get eaten, but not by people. Birds, snakes, dogs, cats and even ants can feast on them.
The males make a cacophony of sounds in the tree tops as they look to mate. The creatures are like hormone-hopped teenagers, according to Dr Raupp.
Once the cicadas mate, the females cut slits into tree branches, where they deposit 400 to 600 eggs.
The adults quickly die, but the eggs hatch a few weeks later to restart the cycle. This year's cicada class will bore into the ground and won't emerge again until 2038.
Cicada cooking tips
Cicadas are known by entomologists to be edible and are sometimes described as tasting like shrimp.
Mr Padovano's limited-time-only special at Cocina on Market in Leesburg, Virginia, features sauteed cicadas topped with cerrano chile, avocado and radish in a mole verde sauce, all wrapped in a flour tortilla.
It's not a huge leap from the grasshopper tacos normally featured on the Mexican restaurant's menu.
"We're going to take them and just drop them into the boiling water. And that's it. You know, they'll squirm for a couple seconds and die," the chef explained.
"You know, it's like cooking a lobster. Dropping a lobster into boiling water. Same thing with doing the cicadas."
After boiling, the cicadas are baked in the oven before their wings and legs are pulled off. Mr Padovano then sautees them in onion and garlic before assembling the tacos.
Will Becker, 19, who tried the tacos, said he would not wait another 17 years to try them again.
"You can definitely feel a bit of the crunch, but you start to chew it, it kind of just, like, melts in," he said.
Mr Becker's mother, Michele Becker, 52, was pleasantly surprised.
"I think going into it the concept of eating a cicada is a little odd, weird, but it's actually not bad," she said.
ABC/wires
