Cicada Mania

Dedicated to cicadas, the most amazing insects in the world.

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.

5 Comments »

  1. Alex says:

    this looks so fake

    1. Alexx says:

      Tacua? Yep, it looks like a 4-color plastic toy, but it’s still real… maybe the most unusual cicada…

    2. shelley Maize says:

      How do you figure? The angle makes it look bigger but still, its real for sure

  2. Christine Denno says:

    I have looked and looked….how big are the NYS cicadas

    1. Dan says:

      NYS? New York State? The latest cicada found in New York (Long Island) is Megatibicen auletes (Germar, 1834) aka Northern Dusk Singing Cicada

Leave a comment. Questions about plants or snakes are deleted.

Leave a Reply to Alexx Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Cicada T-shirts