Cicada Mania

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April 15, 2017

How do cicadas make sounds / noise

Filed under: Sounds — Tags: , — Dan @ 2:09 pm

Some people hear a cicada sing, and hear a beautiful song, while others hear an irritating noise. But how do they create the sounds?

Magicicada septendecim tymbal
The ridged organ in this photo is a tymbal, the organ male cicadas use to create their songs.

Cicadas make sounds in quite a few ways: with tymbal organs, wing flicks, wing clicks, and stridulations.

Male cicadas sing using their tymbals

tymbal animation
Muscles tug at it rapidly to create sound vibrations.

Cicadas are best known for the songs the male cicadas sing. They sing using special organs called tymbals. Tymbals are membranes that vibrate very quickly when pulled by tiny muscles. This vibration creates the cicada’s song. Some types of cicadas have exposed tymbals, like Magicicada or Zammara. Some species have hidden tymbals, like Neotibicen, and flex their abdomen to open their tymbal covers to modulate their song.

Each type of song made with tymbals has a different purpose:

  • Alarm/distress calls: “don’t eat me! something is eating me!”
  • Pre-calls: warming up
  • Calls to attract mates and establish a territory
  • Courting calls: calls made once a mate is found.
  • Choruses: when males synchronize their calls to establish chorusing centers and attract females.

Wing flicks and stridulations

Females and males of some species flick their wings to produce a sound similar to the flick of a wall switch. Females use wing flicks to respond to male courting calls, in the case of Magicicada periodical cicadas. Some males of other species use a combination of tymbal song and wing flicks.

Some species of cicadas lack tymbals, like cicadas belonging to the genus Platypedia. They use their wings to make crackling or popping noises known as crepitation. Amphipsalta zelandica of New Zealand use wing-clicks to communicate.

Stridulations: Some cicadas, like Australia’s Green Grocer, possess raspe-like parts of their bodies which when stroked with part of a wing produces yet another type of cicada sound. This type of sound is called a stridulation.

Cyclochila australasiae stridulatory structures

Tettigarcta vibrate the earth

Lastly, some species like those belonging to the genus Tettigarcta vibrate the substrate (soil, plant matter, etc) they live in, rather than vibrating the air.

14 Comments »

  1. Nassor says:

    I am sorry but cicada merch? Imma get this for my terrified sister

  2. Rick says:

    I reside in Carroll County, MD and they are hot and heavy this last two weeks. The song is incredible, constant, and loud. It didn’t begin that way but now I can hear it in my home even with all the windows closed. By the way, those in our area are singing in the note E at 1320 Hz and thus far I’ve measured them at 70 dB.

  3. Bob says:

    They sound like a UFO

    1. avonte says:

      mannnn its true but u gotta be more drematic

    2. Sasha says:

      Like a sci-fi movie from 1960’s.

  4. K Cody says:

    Hi Dan,
    I am asking permission to use some of your pics on this site for a PowerPoint presentation I am putting together for school groups, esp. How Cicadas make sounds. This Website is FANTASTIC, lots of great info. Thank You

    1. Dan says:

      I set aside some images people can use here https://www.cicadamania.com/cicadas/cicada-images-and-video-for-sharing/

      A lot of the illustrations I use come from C.L. Marlatt’s The Periodical Cicada, which you can download from Archive.org.

  5. Karl says:

    I am tryin g to find out whether the noise especially in the evening, coming, I think from trees, are from cicadas? Where can I find a sample of the noises?

    1. Dan says:

      On the https://www.cicadamania.com/cicadas/cicada-songs-audio-sounds-noise/ page, but it might take you a decade to go through each one.

      That said, the insects that sing at night are usually crickets or katydids. I think the North American Katydids website has sound files https://orthsoc.org/sina/katydids.htm. I would start there first.

  6. CARMEN MARIA FLORES BADILLA says:

    Muchas gracias por la información. Muy interesante.

  7. Prof. Dr Htay Win says:

    Thanks for explanation

  8. Sundar says:

    Very useful.
    I was looking for informations on some amazing insects in the forest,for the purpose of using it in a film script.My friend an entomologist suggested cicada.Really an amazing creature.

  9. Evelyn says:

    Cicadas very large, aren’t they. They are the largest beetle type bug I have seen! Thanks for all the info!!

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