CHICAGO (WGN) — Most of the millions and millions of cicadas that will be with parts of the country for the next few months have those signature bright red eyes. But one found recently by a 4-year-old has a rare mutation that gives the insect blue eyes.
Bailey said they were kicking themselves for not keeping the bug. But as luck would have it, the kids — this time armed with flashlights — were able to find and collect the cicada a second time.
This specimen, a female Magicicada cassini, is the first blue-eyed cicada ever added to the Field Museum’s collections of cicadas dating back more than a century. (The Field Museum of Natural History )
Through the help of a relative who has a contact at Chicago’s Field Museum, the Baileys reached out to gauge their interest.
The cicada will be added to the museum’s behind-the-scenes collections of insects that serve as a library of life on earth for scientists from all over the world who want to know about what lived where and when, the museum said in a statement. Since blue-eyed cicadas are very rare, the Field Museum’s scientists will try to sequence its DNA to potentially learn more about the genes responsible for its blue eyes.
The public will get an opportunity to see the blue-eyed cicada when it’s on display at the museum during cicada-themed events happening weekly through the end of June.