In 2001 Brood VII of the periodical cicada in central New York emerged over a reduced geographic range, as predicted by Pechuman (1985). We found no evidence in Livingston or Cayuga Counties of periodical cicadas emerging in the populations studied by Pechuman during the 1984 emergence, and the majority of the brood is now limited to populations in Onondaga Nation Territory. The decline of Brood VII during the 20th century has occurred in spite of an increase in the total area of potentially suitable habitat across New York and specifically in the counties in which the cicadas were historically present. The observed reduction in range is discussed in terms of a historical spatial bottleneck followed by fragmentation of historically-occupied habitat combined with the poor abilities of these cicadas to disperse to new habitat.