Plains cicada
The plains cicada is a big, loud insect of the American grasslands. It has pale eyes and a black mask that stretches out from each bulging eye, and white, powdery patches on its back. On hot summer days the males sing loudly to call the females.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
Only the males sing. They make their song with a drum-like part on the belly called a tymbal, and the hollow belly makes it louder.
The females answer by clicking their wings.
The young cicadas live underground for 3 to 5 years, drinking from roots, before they come up.
When it climbs out, it sheds its last skin. The empty brown shell stays stuck on trees and buildings.
A grown-up cicada lives for up to about two months and sings most between 10 in the morning and 6 in the evening.
Most asked questions about Plains cicada
?Do plains cicadas bite or sting?
No. They are harmless to people, even if they are noisy.
?How long do plains cicadas live?
They spend 3 to 5 years underground as young, then live up to about two months as adults.
?Why do cicadas make noise?
The males sing to call females. They make the sound with a special drum-like part on the belly.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Megatibicen dealbatus
- Group
- True bugs and cicadas
- Family
- Cicadidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Hemiptera > Cicadidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Neotibicen dealbatus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Brandon Bourassa. CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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