Cicada Mania

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May 13, 2018

What is the largest cicada?

Filed under: FAQs — Tags: , , — Dan @ 8:41 am

The largest known cicada is the Megapomponia imperatoria (Westwood, 1842) of south-east Asia. The specimen in the photo below was captured in Malaysia and it’s wingspan measured 20 centimters/7.9 inches. Other species might be larger in terms of weight, but I’m not sure.

Megapomponia imperatoria
Photo of a Megapomponia imperatoria (formerly Pomponia imperatoria) by Michel Chantraine.

Other very large cicadas include the Bear Cicada of Japan (Cryptotympana facialis), and Tacua speciosa of south-east Asia.

Tacua speciosa (Illger, 1980) photos from Malaysia. The author of the image wishes to be anonymous.
Tacua speciosa from Malaysia by anonymous photographer.

The largest cicada in North America is the Megatibicen auletes:

Megatibicen auletes, the largest cicada in North America
Northern Dusk-Singing Cicadas aka Megatibicen auletes. Photo by me.

These very large cicadas are loud, but not the loudest. Learn about loud cicadas.

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