Cicadas
Many find cicadas to be grotesque and frightening in appearance; however, cicadas do not bite and are actually harmless to handle. They are members of the order Homoptera, close relatives of the aphids and leafhoppers. Most cicadas, including all of our eastern species, are excellent fliers and spend their adult lives high in trees, where they are difficult to see. Some species, however, frequent city parks and woodlots, and injured specimens may sometimes be found along sidewalks or on window screens, or else cats may catch them and bring them home. Cicadas are also drawn to bright lights at night. Unlike crickets and kaytids, which do well in captivity, cicadas usually die within several days and should not be kept as pets. While some cicadas can be recognized at a glance, others look very much alike and are best identified by their loud songs, which people notice, even if they don’t know they’re being made by cicadas. There are lots of cicadas in North America, about 155 species represented by fourteen genera, although most of these are western in distribution. We cover thirteen species in this guide (in four genera) and include the common species most likely to be heard in the East.
The typical cicada life cycle lasts many years. Females generally lay eggs in the bark of limbs or twigs. The eggs hatch into tiny nymphs that fall from trees and then burrow into the ground, where they feed on roots. The nymphs remain underground for a num- ber of years, growing steadily and shedding numerous skins. Finally, they emerge from the ground, crawl up tree trunks, and then shed their last skins to become adults, leaving their nymphal cases attached to the bark. Over most of our region, emergences begin in midsummer. Adults live only about a month, feeding on plant juices, which they obtain by inserting their piercing and sucking mouthparts into the bark.
Male cicadas have loud buzzing songs that are produced by special organs called “tymbals,” located on the first segment of the abdomen. Most species are easy to identify by song. A male’s song attracts females and may also to serve to attract other males, especially in those species that form noisy mating aggregations.
Nearly all of our eastern cicadas are of the annual type, meaning that adults emerge every year, although some years may yield greater numbers than others. In other words, the life cycles of individuals within a population are staggered, so that there are nymphs emerging as adults every year. In contrast, the “periodical” cicadas have populations in which all individuals are synchronized in their life cycles. The example we include in this guide is Linnaeus’ 17-year Cicada, in which individuals in a population emerge all together just once every seventeen years (see Periodical Cicadas for more information).
Our Insect Musicians:
Thumbnail Guide to All Species
Navigate to Species Pages:
Spring and Fall Field Cricket
Southern Wood Cricket
Southeastern Field Cricket
Eastern Striped Cricket
Japanese Burrowing Cricket
Ground Crickets (Nemobiinae):
Allard’s Ground Cricket
Carolina Ground Cricket
Confused Ground Cricket
Striped Ground Cricket
Southern Ground Cricket
Sphagnum Ground Cricket
Variegated Ground Cricket
Spotted Ground Cricket
Tinkling Ground Cricket
Cuban Ground Cricket
Tree Crickets (Oecanthinae):
Black-horned Tree Cricket
Forbes’s Tree Cricket
Broad-winged Tree Cricket
Davis’s Tree Cricket
Fast-calling Tree Cricket
Four-spotted Tree Cricket
Narrow-winged Tree Cricket
Pine Tree Cricket
Snowy Tree Cricket
Two-spotted Tree Cricket
Trigs and Bush Crickets (Eneopterinae & Trigonidiinae):
Jumping Bush Cricket
Columbian Trig
Handsome Trig
Say’s Trig
Thomas’s Trig
Slow-tinkling Trig
Mole Crickets (Gryllotalpidae):
Northern Mole Cricket
Southern Mole Cricket
FAMILY DESCRIPTION
Saltmarsh Meadow Katydid
Short-winged Meadow Katydid
Slender Meadow Katydid
Woodland Meadow Katydid
Black-sided Meadow Katydid
Long-tailed Meadow Katydid
Straight-lanced Meadow Katydid
Agile Meadow Katydid
Dusky-faced Meadow Katydid
Stripe-faced Meadow Katydid
Nimble Meadow Katydid
Black-legged Meadow Katydid
Common Meadow Katydid
Gladiator Meadow Katydid
Handsome Meadow Katydid
Lesser Pine Meadow Katydid
Long-spurred Meadow Katydid
Red-headed Meadow Katydid
Coneheads (Copiphorinae):
FAMILY DESCRIPTION
Round-tipped Conehead
Nebraska Conehead
Robust Conehead
Slightly Musical Conehead
Sword-bearing Conehead
False Robust Conehead
Marsh Conehead
Black-nosed Conehead
True Katydids (Pseudophyllinae):
FAMILY DESCRIPTION
Common True Katydid
False Katydids (Phaneropterinae):
FAMILY DESCRIPTION
Clicker Round-winged Katydid
Common Virtuoso Katydid
Rattler Round-winged Katydid
Oblong-winged Katydid
Great Angle-wing
Lesser Angle-wing
Broad-winged Bush Katydid
Curved-tailed Bush Katydid
Fork-tailed Bush Katydid
Northern Bush Katydid
Texas Bush Katydid
Treetop Bush Katydid
Modest Katydid
Shield-backed Katydids (Tettigoniinae):
FAMILY DESCRIPTION
American Shieldback
Least Shieldback
Protean Shieldback
Robust Shieldback
Roesel’s Katydid
Band-winged Grasshoppers (Oedipodinae):
Boll’s & Carolina Grasshoppers
Marsh Meadow Grasshopper