What is Cicada?

About Cicadas:

• Cicadas are hemipteran insects known for their loud, complex and species-specific acoustic signals or songs.
• The generic diversity of cicadas in India and Bangladesh ranks the highest in the world, followed by China.
• A cicada will have the best chance of survival if it can emerge from the ground when its predators are lying dormant. 
• Habitat: Most cicadas are canopy dwellers and are found in natural forests with large trees.
• Types: Scientists divide the over 3,000 cicada species into two groups: annual and periodical.
  • Annual cicadas: They emerge from the ground at different times each summer.
  • They’re usually dark with greenish markings.
  • These insects avoid predators by camouflaging themselves in the trees and flying from hungry birds and moles.
  • Periodical cicadas: Only seven species of cicadas are in the periodical cicadas.
  • These bugs all emerge from the ground at the same time(Summer).
  • These groups appear after a dormant period of either 13 or 17 years.
• Ecological Significance: They prune mature trees, aerate the soil, and once they die, their bodies serve as an important source of nitrogen for growing trees.

Q1: What are Hemipteran insects?

These are piercing-sucking insects that feed on phloem sap of plants through stylets, modified mouthparts used to penetrate the plant tissues.

News: Three groups of cicadas emerge together for first time in 1,547 years