Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
 

Clickable Guide

Interactive image map to choose major taxa 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

Upcoming Events

National Moth Week was July 19-27, and the Summer 2025 gathering in Louisiana, July 19-27

Photos of insects and people from the 2024 BugGuide gathering in Idaho July 24-27

Moth submissions from National Moth Week 2024

Photos of insects and people from the 2022 BugGuide gathering in New Mexico, July 20-24

Photos of insects and people from the Spring 2021 gathering in Louisiana, April 28-May 2

Photos of insects and people from the 2019 gathering in Louisiana, July 25-27

Species Quesada gigas - Giant Cicada

Representative Images

Giant Cicada - Quesada gigas - male Giant Cicada - Quesada gigas - female Giant Cicada - Quesada gigas TX Cicada Species? - Quesada gigas TX Cicada Species? - Quesada gigas Quesada gigas Quesada gigas - female Quesada gigas - male

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)
Subfamily Cicadinae
Tribe Fidicinini
Genus Quesada
Species gigas (Giant Cicada)

Other Common Names

Chicharra Grande, Cigarra Grande

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Quesada gigas (Olivier)
Orig. Comb: Cicada gigas Olivier 1790

Explanation of Names

gigas (G). 'giant, very large' (1)

Numbers

1 sp. n. of Mex. (2)

Identification

Range

c. TX to c. Argentina (2), this is the widest ranging cicada in the Western Hemisphere
U.S. (Texas) Range Map - Texas Entomology

Habitat

It appears to have a generalist approach to host plants that facilitates its use of multiple plant communities. (2)

Season

primarily June-Sept in s. TX based on 132 spmns in the TAMUIC (3)

Food

Immatures feed on tree roots, mostly Huisache and other members of the Legume family.
In a single park in Brazil, the species was found to use 17 different families as host plants. (2)

Life Cycle

spends at least four years underground as immature insects feeding on tree roots.

Remarks

SONG - Loudest insect in the Western Hemisphere!
At the height of the season in s. TX, sings all day (and occasionally through the night).
In c. TX, sings primarily at dusk (between 8:37 and 9:04), and less often at dawn (between 6:15 and 6:25). (MAQ, pers. obs.)

Print References

Davis W.T. 1944. The remarkable distribution of an American cicada: a new genus, and other cicada notes. Journal of the New York Entomological Society 52: 213-223. (Full PDF)
Martinelli, N.M.; Zucchi, R.A. 1997. Primeiros registros de plantas hospedeiras de Fidicina mannifera, Quesada gigas e Dorisiana drewseni (Hemiptera: Cicadidae). Revista de Agricultura 72: 271-281.
Sanborn A.F., Heath M.S., Heath J.E., Noriega F.G. 1995. Diurnal activity, temperature responses and endothermy in three South American cicadas (Homoptera: Cicadidae: Dorisiana bonaerensis, Quesada gigas and Fidicina mannifera). Journal of Thermal Biology, 20(6): 451-460.
Zanuncio, J.C., Pereira, F.F., Zanuncio, T.V., Martinelli, N.M. Pinon, T.B.M., Guimarães, E.M. 2004. Occurrence of Quesada gigas on Schizolobium amazonicum trees in Maranhão and Pará States, Brazil. Pesq. agropec. bras., 39(9): 943-945. (Full PDF)

Internet References

Giant Cicada / Chicharra Grande - Mike Quinn, Texas Entomology

Works Cited

1.Dictionary of Word Roots and Combining Forms
Donald J. Borror. 1960. Mayfield Publishing Company.
2.Biogeography of the Cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) of North America, North of Mexico.
Sanborn, A.F., and P.K. Phillips. 2013. Diversity 5: 166–239.
3.Texas A&M University Insect Collection (TAMUIC)
Contributed by Mike Quinn on 11 July, 2009 - 2:16pm
Additional contributions by Bill Reynolds
Last updated 17 October, 2019 - 2:59pm

Disclaimer: Dedicated naturalists volunteer their time and resources here to provide this service. We strive to provide accurate information, but we are mostly just amateurs attempting to make sense of a diverse natural world. If you need expert professional advice, contact your local extension office.

Contributors own the copyright to and are solely responsible for contributed content.
Click the contributor's name for licensing and usage information.
Everything else copyright © 2003-2025 Iowa State University, unless otherwise noted.

Bugguide is hosted by:

Plant Pathology, Entomology and Microbiology at Iowa State University logo

Printer Friendly Version 		Terms of Use
Privacy Statement
Site Map
Contact