Two separate families in the Chicago suburbs stumbled upon a “one in a million” blue-eyed cicada, sharing pictures of the vibrant insect.
Greta Bailey told Fox News Digital that her 4-year-old son, Jack, was collecting the typically red-eyed cicada when the family first spotted the bright-eyed insect in their Wheaton, Illinois backyard.
Bailey told FOX 59 that she did not realize that blue-eyed cicadas existed – until one wandered into her backyard.
“I thought it was cool and unique and had not heard that blue-eyed cicadas even existed,” Bailey said.
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Bailey said that her family enjoyed taking pictures of the cicada before they released it back into the wild.
Images from Bailey showed the small and surprisingly blue-eyed cicada being held by her three children.
Another woman in a Chicago suburb found a “one in a million” blue-eyed cicada while visiting a nature preserve.
Kelly Simkins, who owns Merlin’s Rocking Pet Show, shared her striking find in a Facebook post, snapping a picture of the cicada’s vibrant blue eyes.
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“One in a million blue-eyed cicada found today at 7am,” Simkins said in the post.
While the families find were rare, it is not unheard of.
The blue eyes are caused by a genetic variation, said Gene Kritsky, author of “Periodical Cicadas: The Plague and the Puzzle.”
Blue-eyed cicadas are indeed one in a million, Kritsky confirmed. “Of course,” he added, “there are hundreds of millions of cicadas.”
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