Neotredecim periodical cicada
The neotredecim periodical cicada spends about 13 years hidden underground before it comes out to sing. It has red eyes, red wing veins, a black back and wide orange stripes on its belly. When the cicadas all come out together, the males sing in a huge loud choir.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
Its song sounds a bit like someone calling weeeee-whoa, or Pharaoh.
It was only discovered in 1998, when scientists noticed that some cicadas in a choir were singing at a higher pitch.
Female cicadas listen for the right song, so they can tell which males belong to their own kind.
In one strip of land from southern Indiana to Arkansas, four different kinds of 13-year cicadas come out at the same time.
Most asked questions about Neotredecim periodical cicada
?How long does the neotredecim periodical cicada live?
Usually about 13 years, almost all of it underground. Some take as few as 9 or as many as 17 years.
?Are periodical cicadas dangerous?
No. They are very noisy, but they do not bite or sting people.
?What does a periodical cicada sound like?
Its high song is said to sound like weeeee-whoa, or like someone calling Pharaoh.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Magicicada neotredecim
- Named by
- Marshall & Cooley, 2000
- Group
- True bugs and cicadas
- Family
- Cicadidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Hemiptera > Cicadidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Magicicada neotredecim (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 unknown author. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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