Cicada Mania: 17 Years of Cicada Information and Fun on the Web!
We are dedicated to providing news, video, audio, photos and information about cicada insects found all around the world. Cicada Mania was established in 1996 during the Brood II periodical cicada emergence, and since then we have continued to add content about Magicicada periodical cicadas, other North American species, and cicadas species around the world. 2013 marks our 17th year, just like the 17 year lifecycle of a Magicicada periodical cicada.
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What are Cicadas?
The Basics
An illustration of cicada tymbals from C.L. Marlatt's The Periodical Cicada. c shows the muscles and tendons connected to the tymbals, and d & e show the bending of the tymbal.Cicadas are insects, best known for the sounds made by male cicadas. The males make this sound by flexing their tymbals, which are drum-like organs found in their abdomens. Small muscles rapidly pull the tymbals in and out of shape — like a child's click-toy. The sound is intensifed by the cicada's mostly hollow abdomen. Female cicadas also make a sound by flicking their wings, but it isn't the same as the song cicadas are known for. Listen to some of the songs cicadas sing.
Cicadas belong to the order Hemiptera, suborder Auchenorrhyncha, superfamily Cicadoidea and families Cicadidae (the vast majority of cicadas) or Tettigarctidae (only two species). Leafhoppers, spittle bugs and jumping plant lice are close relatives of the cicada. Hemiptera are different from other insects in that both the nymph and adult forms have a beak (aka rostrum), which they use to suck fluids called xylem from plants. This is how they both eat and drink.
The origin of the word cicada is not 100% clear however it appears to be based on the Latin word for cicada. This makes sense as there were certainly plenty of cicadas in the days of Rome. Cicadas are called semi in Japan, cigale in France, and cigarra in Spain.
More information about:
Life Cycle
Cicadas begin life as a rice-shaped egg, which the female deposits in a groove she makes in a tree limb, using her ovipositor. The groove provides shelter and exposes the tree fluids, which the young cicadas feed on. These grooves can kill small branches. When the branches die and leaves turn brown, it is called flagging.
Once the egg hatches the cicada begins to feed on the tree fluids. At this point it looks like a termite or small white ant. Once the young cicada is ready, it crawls from the groove and falls to the ground where it will dig until it finds roots to feed on. Once roots are found the cicada will stay underground from 2 to 17 years depending on the species.
After the long 2 to 17 years, cicadas emerge from the ground as nymphs. Nymphs climb the nearest available tree, and begin to shed their nymph exoskeleton. Free of their old skin, their wings will inflate with fluid and their new skin can harden. Once their new wings and body are ready, they can begin their brief adult life.
Adult cicadas, also called imagoes, spend their time in trees looking for a mate. Males sing, females respond, mating begins, and the cycle of life begins again.
Top, Left to Right: cicada egg, freshly hatched nymph, 2nd and 3rd instar nymphs. Bottom, Left to Right: 4th instar nymph, teneral adult, adult. (Photos by Roy Troutman and Elias Bonaros).
Different Types of Life Cycles
There are three types of cicada life cycles:
- Annual: Cicada species with annual life cycles emerge every year, for example, Swamp Cicadas (Tibicen tibicen) emerge every year in the United States.
- Periodical: Cicadas species with periodical life cycles emerge all together after long periods of time, for example, Magicicada septendecim will emerge every 17 years (Find out where they'll emerge next).
- Proto-periodical: Cicada species with proto-periodical life cycles might emerge every year, but every so many years they emerge in heavy numbers, like the Okanagana.
Different Varieties
There are over 170 species of cicada in North America, and over 2000 species around the world. Cicadas exist on every continent but Antarctica.
The world's largest cicada species of cicada is the Pomponia imperatoria, which is native to Malaysia. See a photo of a Pomponia imperatoria. The largest species of the Americas is Quesada gigas, aka Giant Cicada.
According to the University of Florida Book of Insect Records, the Tibicen walkeri is the loudest cicada, in North America, and can achieve 108.9 decibels. Australian species of cicadas, like the Double Drummer (Thopa saccata) are said to exceed 120 decibels.
The most well known cicadas in the North America are the Magicicada periodical cicadas, which have amazingly long 17 or 13 year lifecycles. Brood II Magicicada will emerge in the Spring of 2013 in parts of Connecticut, Maryland, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Read more about where and when.
Most species of cicadas in North America are not periodical cicadas. Most are annual cicadas, such as Tibicen, Neocicada, Diceroprocta, and the proto-periodical Okanagana.
The cicada information on Cicada Mania is not limited to North America. We have cicada photos and information for Australia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Japan, Spain, Thailand and other locations, thanks to contributors around the world.
More information:
Cicada Sounds
Brood X, periodical 17-Year cicadas:
An annual, summertime Tibicen cicada:
- More cicada songs, including links to cicada song websites, and the songs of periodical cicadas.
