Photographer George Schaller snapped this up-close photo of a cicada in a studio in Wayne, New Jersey. Brood II, the variety being seen this year, was last spotted in 1996. (See cicadas on a map) Many things have changed since then, and some bugs got famous. Click through the gallery to see flying and crawling creatures that the 17-year cicadas might have missed. 
He's not a bug. He's a rabbit. But Bugs Bunny got his own stamp in 1997. Some stamp collectors gave the U.S. Postal Service an earful, saying they thought the famous cartoon character was undeserving of a stamp. 
Volkswagen released its "New Beetle" car in 1998, much to the fascination of the swarming media at an auto show in Detroit, Michigan. That same year, a movie rivalry popped up between two insect-filled films: "A Bug's Life" and "Antz." 
Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, whose real name is Michael Balzary, performs nude at Woodstock '99, a summer musical held in Rome, New York, as a tribute to its 1969 namesake. 
Doomsday scenarios started popping up before the new millennium. There was a lot of concern that computer programs would mistake dates formatted "00" for 1900 instead of 2000. This was referred to as the Y2K bug, which caused more than a few headaches for tech workers of the late 1990s. Left: A Y2K bug plush toy purchased in 1999. Right: An IBM saleswoman demonstrates a Y2K-compliant computer program in Manila, Philippines, in 1999. 
The Beatles are perhaps the most famous insect-named band of all time -- well that, and the most famous band of all time. Left to right in the foreground is George Harrison, Paul McCartney, and John Lennon, while drummer Ringo Star keeps the beat in the back. George Harrison died in November 2001. 
The first "Spider-Man" movie of the Toby Maguire era came out in 2002. The Charlotte Hornets were also dissolved that year. 
The deadly West Nile Virus came to prominence in the early 2000s, as outbreaks popped up in several states. The culex tarsalis female mosquito shown in the photo was caught in a trap to be tested at the Arizona Department of Health Services laboratory in August 2004 in Phoenix, Arizona. 
2004 was an exciting year for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets men's basketball team. They reached the NCAA Championships that year, only to fall to University of Connecticut's Huskies. Georgia Tech's mascot, Buzz, is always a hit with fans. This photo shows Buzz looking on helplessly at the football team's loss to the Virginia Cavaliers in 2004. 
Shown here is the September 2005 premiere of "Serenity" at Universal Studios in Los Angeles, California. The film was based upon the much-beloved "Firefly" series, which is often labeled a "space western" for its incorporation of elements from science fiction and Western genres. It received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series in 2003. The series first launched in 2002, but lasted only a short time. 
"The Ant Bully" was another animated film about bugs that came out in the 2000s. Dame Kelly Holmes is shown here attending the London premiere. This is the same year that the band Cicada released their self-titled album, which includes a song called "Cicadas." The song features -- you guessed it -- cicada sounds. 
Jerry Seinfeld appears with a giant, costumed bee for a premiere of his film "Bee Movie" in November 2007 in Brussels, Belgium. 
U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps looks like a butterfly at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. He's shown here swimming a 200-meter event, a distance for which he achieved a silver medal. He earned a gold medal in the 100-meter butterfly. 
The Hexbug line of bug-bots became popular in 2009. They feature miniature battery-powered creepy-crawlies that are actually simple robots. 
Some hotels started getting attention for all the wrong reasons when bedbugs started popping up under the covers, especially in cities like New York where there are lots of travelers coming from diverse locations. These plush bugs greeted attendees at the Bed Bug University North American Summit 2010 in September 2010 in Rosemont, Illinois. 
While "The Green Hornet" got lots of attention on the big screen in 2011, there were also bugs on the smaller ones. Jiminy Cricket appeared as a character in "Once Upon a Time," a TV series based on fairy tales and storybook. Cricket is seen at left with other characters dressed up for an early Halloween at Tokyo Disneyland in September 2012. 
As if three movies full of Spider-Man weren't enough, yet another incarnation of Spidey's Spandex popped up. Actor Andrew Garfield is shown here at the premiere of "The Amazing Spider-Man" in Los Angeles in June 2012. 
Yes, the Brood II cicadas are back after 17 years. Janie Lambert of Hughesville, Maryland, recalls the noise cicadas made when she was at Andrews Air Force Base in 1996. Sometimes, she says, they were louder than Air Force One. In 2013, she ventured out into St. Mary's County with her daughter Jessie and took several photos, as well as a video. "We started hearing the hum around the 10th of May, by the 15th," she said. "They were all over the county and very, very loud, like a gas saw." Her family has seen its own new generation pop up since the last time she heard that buzz -- just like the cicadas. 
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- 17-year cicada variety known as Brood II has been invading several states
- These cicadas were last seen in 1996, when things were different
- Here's some things missed after 17 years in hiding
- What would you add to this letter? Share your thoughts in the comments
(CNN) -- Dear cicada friends,
We know you probably don't speak English, but we humans can't really buzz that well, so this letter will have to do.
The last time we saw your cicada variety, known as Brood II, emerge was in 1996. You were still in your larval stage at that time, so you probably don't remember. Now, you're rising to the surface and having a grand ol' party. So much so that CNN is tracking readers' reports of your locations and listening to recordings of your buzz.
We humans have a hard time imagining what it must be like to go into hiding for years on end and leave your fate in the hands of the world. Who knows what the world will be like when you next emerge 17 years from now? Will it be a mundane place or a strange post-apocalyptic scene?
That's why we're so in awe of you. You are like living time capsules, and you take it in stride. Life is one big, buzzing party for you.
Open Story: See where readers are finding cicadas
But all good things must come to an end, and before you go, we'd like to bring you up to speed on the things you've missed since you were last here. It's probably not pleasant to think about, but we want to reach you in time.
We were inspired to write you this letter because of a heartfelt iReport we received from Janie Lambert of Hughesville, Maryland. She talked about many events that have happened in the past 17 years. Like your species, her family has hatched a new generation of offspring during this time.
Your buggy brains aren't really geared for philosophy, but here's a grub of an idea: the tragedy of your lives is a metaphor for our own.
It's too bad you barely missed Baz Luhrmann's "Romeo + Juliet," with Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes in the leading roles. It came out in fall 1996 -- well after you would have ducked into the ground. And don't forget about "Tromeo and Juliet," which also came out around that time.
Bet you would have related to William Shakespeare's infamous star-crossed lovers, who were destined to shack up and then die while still in their teens.
We think you would also have a special appreciation for the "Austin Powers" movie trilogy, which kicked off in 1997. It features a British spy who is cryogenically frozen in the 1960s and then emerges in the 1990s with a strong mating instinct. Strip away the bad teeth and Union Jack decor, and your stories are much the same.
Read about the cicada life cycle
Culture shock was a big part of the "Powers" films, and you're probably feeling like a Rip Van Winkle as well. Surely you must be wondering where you can get some pogs, or the latest dramatic twists and turns in the Van Halen line-up. Radiohead released several acclaimed albums (including "OK Computer" and "Kid A") as well. Heck, there was even a Woodstock anniversary concert in 1999.
A few years later, an electronic band called Cicada formed in the UK. Their self-titled debut album (2006) will make your feelers twitch. It includes a song called "Cicadas" that intermingles rhythmic buggy noises with sweet synthetic sounds.
You skipped most of the boy/girl bands -- just barely. The Backstreet Boys put out their self-titled album in June 1996 and *NSYNC rose soon thereafter. The Spice Girls released their debut album "Spice" worldwide by 1997, and Britney Spears reached stardom status in the late 1990s. The Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez ... there's so many.
The brothers Hanson MMMBopped their way onto the charts in 1997 when they were just nymphs. They continued to put out albums after they finished molting, and now generate almost as much buzz as you do -- and have produced nearly as many larvae.
Oh, and we almost forgot to mention "Star Wars"! There are now three prequels, and the whole numbering system got changed so that Episode I is now Episode IV, and there's this character called Jar Jar Binks and ... never mind. You've had to digest so much already.
If you're still unsure about what happened in the 1990s, BuzzFeed is totally on it. Any relation? They're about as cicada-like as humans get, constantly searching for whatever happens to be buzzing at any given time. The writers are in their laboratories concocting nostalgia for the 2000s as we speak.
But we don't want to bug you with too much popular culture. There's also plenty of serious history that you've missed.
We've been through five presidential elections now, and three presidents. The truth is, maybe you're better off not having seen footage of the September 11 terror attacks, or the wars that began afterward. You also conveniently missed the biggest burst of the housing bubble, or running the risk of getting laid off during the Great Recession. You can't bring most liquids through airport security anymore, and the NASA space shuttle program as we knew it has ended.
In 1999, the technology world fretted over the Y2K bug, in which a date-formatting issue threatened to bring down computer programs everywhere. Concerns about serious problems seemed largely unfounded when 2000 finally rolled around.
Cicadas should also be aware that the "New Beetle" was released by Volkswagen in 1998, which in turn renewed humans' desire to drive a bug.
In the world of devices, the BlackBerry device is still consumed in its addictive CrackBerry form, but plenty of two-leggers are using smartphones and tablets with touchscreens. (You don't have hands, so you might need a keyboard that you can tap with your legs.)
You fast-forwarded through the meteoric rise of the World Wide Web, and the spider-like reach of social media. You missed complaining about several Facebook layout iterations and being friends with that guy named Tom on MySpace in the 2000s. You can still be friends with him now, but it's just not the same.
The predictable backlash toward spending too much time online works to your advantage, because you're well-equipped for it. You spend just about all your time in the out-of-doors, happily buzzing away and doing your thing until your time comes.
Dying cicadas spotted in Staten Island
You're probably not worried about all these things that bipeds are always fussing about, but we just thought we'd let you know.
Maybe there's a few things we're missing out on, as well.
Until we meet again with your descendants 17 years from now, let's all say goodbye and farewell.
Buzzing off,
The People of Planet Earth
"Bzzz zzzzz zzzzzz zzzz bzzzzz bzz"
What would you add to this letter? Are there any important events that stand out to you? Share your thoughts in the comments area below. Follow @CNNLightYears on Twitter for more science news
