Very few cicadas stink while alive, unlike an insect like the Stink Bug (Pentatomidae). No North American cicadas have a foul or offensive odor while alive. When cicadas are dead though, their rotting bodies can have a putrid odor, especially Magicicada cicadas because they are fatty. Even in my collection of deceased cicadas, only the periodical cicadas smell bad.
A few species do stink (have a foul odor) when alive. Chris Simon, one of the premier world cicada experts sent us this:
There are at least two South East Asian cicada that stink. One can smell them when walking nearby in the forest according to Boulard’s Cicadas of Thailand volume 2, Page 296. Huechys sanguinea and its sibling species H. philaemata have bright contrasting red and black warning coloration and these are “combined with an unpleasant smell and emetic physical properties.”
More information about these “little stinkers”:
- Huechys sanguinea details about the species
- Huechys sanguinea a photo of a teneral H. sanguinea
- iNaturalist map of H. sanguinea
One reply on “Do Cicadas Stink?”
We are currently experiencing the emergence of Brood VIII in our area. I am overrun with the little bugs. I can attest to the fact that they do, in fact, smell really bad when they are dead and rotting. It is no fun trying to plant anything since the smell is overwhelming! I at first thought it was a neighborhood cat using my yard as a litterbox. I had to apologize to him when I found out it was the cicadas.