Cicada

Quick Take

• Cicadas produce one of nature's loudest sounds, so loud that it can damage their own hearing. How they deal with that is stranger than you'd expect. Hear the deafening details →
• They're commonly called locusts, but cicadas and locusts aren't even close relatives, and that distinction matters more than most people realize. See the key differences →
• After spending up to 17 years underground, the adult cicada's time above ground is shockingly brief, and its survival odds are even worse than you'd think. Adult cicada survival odds →
• The world's largest cicada has a wingspan that would stop most people in their tracks, and that is not even the most surprising size fact about these insects. Explore cicada size facts →

If a person wakes up one warm summer morning and hears a noise outside their window like a thousand tiny lawnmowers running at full blast, it’s almost certainly a swarm of brand-new adult cicadas. Cicadas are interesting not just because of the racket they make, but because periodical cicadas have a life cycle of 13 or 17 years. Most of their lives are spent underground as nymphs, then something triggers them to emerge, climb a tree or a wall or some surface, split their skin, and emerge from the shell as adults. After this, their only tasks are to reproduce and die.

5 Incredible Cicada Facts

• Deciduous trees are necessary for a good population of these insects. Their roots not only provide food for the nymphs, but the trees are also important for egg-laying, molting, and singing.
• The unusually loud noise produced by a male can reach 120 decibels if heard up close. That’s loud enough to make the ears hurt.
• It’s not only humans who need to protect their ears from the loudness of the insect’s song. When a male sings, he has to close his tympana, which function much like human ears, to keep them from being damaged.
• Scientists group periodical cicadas into broods based on their 13- or 17-year life cycle. As of 2026, there are 15 of these broods.
• After spending years underground, the adult insect lives only a few weeks. Many don’t even live that long, as they are eaten by predators such as birds and a wasp called the cicada killer. Even humans eat them. In some cultures, the insect is a delicacy.

Origin and Evolution

The cicada has been around for a long time, dating back to when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. Fossils of Cicadomorpha indicate that these bugs first appeared in the Late Triassic period. These were found in Australia, South Africa, and China. “Giant cicada” fossils were found in Eurasia and South America and dated to the Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous periods. The first of these was a forewing discovered in 1873 in the Taynton Limestone Formation of Oxfordshire, England. It was initially thought to be from a butterfly, but was later correctly classified as a cicada forewing.

For periodical cicadas, their emergence and evolution are strongly influenced by temperature. If it is too cold, a brood will not emerge and perhaps die out.

Species, Types, and Scientific Name

In total, there are more than 3,000 different species of cicadas around the world, and about 170 of those species occur in North America north of Mexico. Cicadas are part of a superfamily, the Cicadoidea. This is divided into two families: the Tettigarctidae, with two species in Australia, and the Cicadidae.

The periodical cicadas belong to the Magicicada genus, and the name refers to the way the insects appear like magic. Then, like magic, they disappear all at once. The name “cicada” is from Latin and allegedly describes the sound the insect makes. Periodical cicadas are exclusive to North America.

There are seven species of periodical cicadas. The first three of the species emerge after 17 years, while the other four emerge after 13 years. They are:

• the 17-year “locust” — Magicicada septendecim
• the 17-year dwarf periodical cicada — M. cassinii
• M. septendecula
• M. tredecim
• M. neotredecim
• M. tredecassini
• M. tredecula

On the other hand, there are annual cicadas. These have a life cycle of 2 to 5 years and do not have synchronized life cycles. These annual cicadas are divided into 4 genera: Neotibicen (“dog-day cicadas”), Diceroprocta, Neocicada, and Okanagana.

Cicada vs. Locust

Though they’re sometimes called locusts, these insects are not closely related to them. Locusts — a name given to grasshoppers that form crop-destroying swarms — belong to the Orthoptera order. Cicadas belong to the Hemiptera order and are considered true bugs. A true bug is an insect with mouthparts adapted for sucking and piercing. The insect nymph’s mouthparts are made for piercing tree roots and sucking sap, and the proboscis of a grown cicada can pierce a person’s skin, but these insects are neither venomous nor disease vectors.

Locusts have chewing mouthparts and, famously, hind legs that are adapted for jumping. Cicadas not only can’t jump the way locusts do, but they also don’t even run or walk well. If they need to go somewhere, they almost always fly.

Appearance: How To Identify Cicadas

The periodical cicada is a rather large insect, though it’s smaller than the annual cicada, which can be 2 inches long. It is much smaller than the largest cicada. This is a Malaysian emperor cicada, with a wingspan of up to 7 inches. Periodical cicadas are between 0.9 and 1.3 inches long, and the females are a bit bigger than the males.

Like most other insects, cicadas have six legs. Their wings are transparent, with lacy orange veins. The insect’s thorax, or the middle section of its body, is usually black, and the abdomen can be orange, black, or orange and black striped. The insect has conspicuous red eyes.

Many of them avoid predators through camouflage or through Batesian mimicry. This is where their colors remind a predator of a harmful insect such as a wasp. These insects are capable of lowering the volume of their song or turning it off altogether if they sense a predator is nearby.

Periodical cicadas form swarms. These adults are primarily focused on reproducing, and males will mate with several females. When the adults emerge, they leave their old shells behind on a wall or a tree trunk. Sometimes the shell lasts longer than the insect itself.

Habitat: Where to Find Cicadas

These insects are found all over the world, but periodical cicadas are found in the eastern and central parts of North America. Another family, the Tettigarctidae, is found in Australia.

Periodical cicadas are found in deciduous forests. These are forests made up of hardwood trees such as oaks, maples, and willows. Periodical cicadas emerge every 13 or 17 years, but even annual cicadas may not emerge every year as their name suggests. Some annual cicadas have a life cycle of two years, while others have a life cycle as long as a decade. Annual cicadas also don’t synchronize their broods the way periodical cicadas do, so they usually don’t swarm like periodical cicadas.

Diet: What Do Cicadas Eat?

The nymphs drink the sap from the roots of deciduous trees for the many years they spend underground. Though many people believe that adults don’t eat, adult cicadas have been observed sucking sap from plants.

Prevention: How to Get Rid of Cicadas

These insects are considered to be harmless. They don’t sting or spread diseases, even though a jab from their mouthparts can hurt. If a person is worried about the insects invading their garden, they can cover their plants with garden fleece to both discourage the insects from feeding and prevent the females from laying their eggs. The females cut slits in branches and deposit their eggs inside. This may injure a young shrub or tree.