Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Clickable Guide
Moths Butterflies Flies Caterpillars Flies Dragonflies Flies Mantids Cockroaches Bees and Wasps Walkingsticks Earwigs Ants Termites Hoppers and Kin Hoppers and Kin Beetles True Bugs Fleas Grasshoppers and Kin Ticks Spiders Scorpions Centipedes Millipedes

Calendar

TaxonomyBrowse
Info
ImagesLinksBooksData

Family Cicadidae - Cicadas

Cicada sp. - Neotibicen Beameria venosa? - Beameria venosa Okanagana - Okanagana noveboracensis Swamp Cicada? Neotibicen tibicen? - Neotibicen tibicen Florida Cicada - Neotibicen davisi Pruinosus? - Neotibicen pruinosus - female Cicadoidea Platypedia putnami
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Hemiptera (True Bugs, Cicadas, Hoppers, Aphids and Allies)
Suborder Auchenorrhyncha (True Hoppers)
Infraorder Cicadomorpha (Cicadas, Spittlebugs, Leafhoppers, and Treehoppers)
Superfamily Cicadoidea (Cicadas)
Family Cicadidae (Cicadas)
Other Common Names
Locust, Harvestfly, Jarfly
Pronunciation
several correct pronunciations (Merriam Webster): suh-KAY-duh (sə-ˈkā-də), plural cicadas/cicadae —AUS, CAN, n.USA • suh-KAH-duh (sə-ˈkä-də) —UK, CAN, so. & w.USA
Explanation of Names
Cicadidae Latreille 1802
Type genus: Cicada Linnaeus 1758 (Old World), Latin 'buzzer' (onomatopoeic)
Numbers
172 spp. & 22 subspecies in 18 genera, 8 tribes, and 3 subfamilies in our area(1), >3,400 spp. in >500 genera of 5 subfamilies total(2)
Size
25—50 mm
Identification
see (1)
Range
worldwide
Habitat
Typically deciduous forests but also grasslands
Season
Adults active primarily May―Oct
Food
nymphs feed on plant roots underground • symbiotic X-proteobacteria Hodgkinia cicadicola help the insect get amino acids.(3)
Life Cycle
Males sing loudly during the day to attract mates
Remarks
cicadas do little damage to crops or trees
Cicadas lack a sense of smell, and thus do not have calyces on the mushroom bodies in their brain.
Print References
(4)(5)(6)
Internet References
(7)(8)(9)
Cicadas of Florida fact sheet (Walker & Moore 2014)(10)
Cicada Mania —"all things cicada"
Works Cited
1.The Cicadas of North America North of Mexico
Sanborn A.F., Heath M.S. 2017. Entomological Society of America. 302 pp.
2.Catalogue of Life
3.The Insects : Structure and Function
R. F. Chapman. 1998. Cambridge University Press.
4.Catalogue of the Cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadoidea: Cicadidae) of Continental North America North of Mexico.
Sanborn, A.F. and M.S. Heath. 2012. Thomas Say Publications in Entomology: Mongraphs.; Entomological Society of America, Lanham, MD. 227 pp.
5.Biogeography of the Cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) of North America, North of Mexico.
Sanborn, A.F., and P.K. Phillips. 2013. Diversity 5: 166–239.
6.Catalogue of the Cicadoidea (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha)
Allen F. Sanborn. 2014. Academic Press (Elsevier Inc.).
7.Simon C. (2015) Cicada Central
8.Cicadas of Michigan
9.InsectSingers.com
10.University of Florida: Featured Creatures