A cicada (pronounced /sekeida) is an insect with large eyes wide apart on the head and usually transparent, well-veined wings. There are about 2,500 species of cicada around the world, and many remain unclassified. Cicadas live in temperate to tropical climates where they are among the most widely recognized of all insects, mainly due to their large size and remarkable acoustic talents. Cicadas are sometimes colloquially called “locusts”, although they are unrelated to true locusts, which are a kind of grasshopper.
Cicadas are benign to humans and do not bite or sting, but can be pests to several cultivated crops. Many people around the world regularly eat cicadas: the female is prized as it is meatier.
Although only males produce the cicadas’ distinctive sound, both sexes have tympana, which are membranous structures used to detect sounds and thus the cicadas’ equivalent of ears. Males can disable their own tympana while calling.[6]
Some cicadas produce sounds up to 120 dB (SPL)[6] “at close range”, among the loudest of all insect-produced sounds.[7] Conversely, some small species have songs so high in pitch that the noise is inaudible to humans.[8] Species have different mating songs to ensure they attract the appropriate mate. It can be difficult to determine which direction(s) cicada song is coming from, because the low pitch carries well and because it may, in fact, be coming from many directions at once, as cicadas in various trees all make noise at once.
In addition to the mating song, many species also have a distinct distress call, usually a somewhat broken and erratic sound emitted when an individual is seized. A number of species also have a courtship song, which is often a quieter call and is produced after a female has been drawn by the calling song.
Cicadas live underground as nymphs for most of their lives, at depths ranging from about 30 cm (1 ft) up to 2.5 m (about 8½ ft). The nymphs feed on root juice and have strong front legs for digging.
In the final nymphal instar, they construct an exit tunnel to the surface and emerge. They then molt (shed their skins), on a nearby plant for the last time and emerge as adults. The abandoned skins remain, still clinging to the bark of trees.
We have these everywhere in the summer! A friend of mine (who has two boys) collected the shells and put them over the Christmas lights on her tree one year, the little body cavities glowed, it looked great! A bit creepy but great! Her boys thought it was fantastic!
http://www.cicadamania.com/cicadas/category/cicadas/
You missed one of the most intriqueing and unique qualities of them – the long life span and brooding… 12 and 17 yr life span on an insect is pretty freeking impressive and the waves of them… also really neat.. I’ve been digging around for some photos I saw a year or two ago of one of the brood invasions of the NE US. There’s a guy that travels the upper NE and will get photgraphs of the first few nights of the invasions when they occur.
Nihilady,
Cool! Thanks for the update.
we dont have them here much anymore