You might have seen periodical cicadas flying around trees, shrubs and gardens.Sometimes they accidentally fly at you, mistaking you for hardwood trees or branches. They fly around hoping to find the perfect spot to attract females to mate and lay eggs with.At night and sometimes during the day time, you will have heard the sounds of locusts rubbing their wings and body. The process of stridulation is what you hear. Some traditional weather folklore of the past says this sound signifies the start of a frost. Folklore states that periodical cicadas start singing (making noises) six weeks before a frost. The arrival of warm, dry days is also sometimes heralded by locusts’ sounds.After reading all about the life cycle of cicadas and locusts, do check out our related fact files on migratory locust facts and bumble bee vs carpenter bee.Why are cicadas called locusts?In the United States of America, periodical cicadas have been called by the name of locust for nearly a hundred years. More similar to an aphid, periodical cicadas do not decimate, attack, eat or consume crops like locusts. Locust are more similar to a short-horned grasshopper or cricket and destroy crops by feeding on them. Both insect species are herbivorous.Some say cicadas are not locusts, grasshoppers, or flies. As a structural difference, you might find huge rear legs on locusts which helps them in hopping, long antennae for communication, and long bodies. A locust can be seen chewing plants, while Magicicada can be seen sucking fluids off of trees. Looking further at the difference between locusts and cicadas, the order or family that locusts belong to are Orthoptera, and Hemiptera respectively. Cicada have hind legs which are about the same size as their other ones, and the legs are a great support for them to climb and perch with. As for the locust, they can be seen with giant hind legs, which they use to jump.Locust eats everything green that they find, while cicada are known to eat xylem sap. If you fear cicadas eating your crops, then don’t worry, they are more likely to feed on tree saps, like xylem sap. However, sometimes, if they cannot find good trees to survive on, they might come after your crops to eat as well. As for their mouths, locusts have chewing mouth parts that enable them to chew and consume any part of the plant. Cicadas have sucking or piercing mouth parts just like mosquitoes which these insects use to suck tree saps from ground roots and twigs for their nourishment.Do cicadas turn into locusts?Association between these different species (locusts and cicadas) can be traced back to the colonial time period. In the past, when a large number of cicadas were seen above the ground, people thought they were swarming and assumed they were a locust plague. Due to their similar swarming nature, locusts, cicadas and periodical cicadas are quite often confused for each other.A locust is an insect that has a strong resemblance to grasshoppers. They come from the family of Acrididae of the insect species. Even though they have been mistaken for other kinds of grasshopper species, cicadas and locusts, they are different. Also, their swarming activities are different from other insect groups and species. An insect from the Hemiptera (true bugs) order of the super family of Cicadidae is a cicada.Did you know that there are about 3,000 species of cicadas that are known to the science world? Unlike periodic cicadas, locusts might feed on your crops, as they can eat on anything green like plants. The reproduction process of cicadas is quite unique. The females lay about 200-400 eggs into tiny holes in tree branches or shrubs. The young nymphs hatch and fall to the ground and suck up to tree roots for sap. The adult cicadas repeat the same process, they mate, lay their eggs and, after just five or more weeks, they die above ground after the reproduction process. Cicadas normally lay eggs in tree branches and other solid hard shrub branches. The insect can’t lay eggs in or on your skin.Do locusts make sounds?A buzzing sound in nature and can be the sounds of locusts’ rubbing their clear wings with each other, creating a soft buzz sound from their bodies. Each locust might be making a soft sound, but when a large number of locusts fly together, this loud sound gets amplified. However, the locusts are not as loud as cicadas.The clicking and buzzing sounds that you hear in your garden may be the cicadas flexing and relaxing their muscles and wings, shaking their body structures called the tymbals. Well, just like other insect species, their mating calls can also produce these noises and sounds. Individual sounds can be related to mating sounds for each cicada. Sometimes the male cicadas and locusts sing together, and their sound reaches up to 120 decibels or more. Furthermore, this sound has the benefit of keeping all their predators, like birds, away. Their sense of sight also helps them to stay safe from danger as well. Cicadas are not blind and have visibility for about 5.9 in (15 cm) in front of them.What do cicadas turn into?The life cycle of cicadas is quite interesting. Female cicadas carve into twigs and the tree branches after their mating period in order to lay eggs. Nymphs hatch from the eggs and fall directly to the ground. They then use their front legs to burrow a deep hole into the ground where they look for trees’ roots. These are a food source to drink sap from.Within 2 -17 years, we see adult cicadas emerging from the ground. The day in which these cicadas come out is often known as ‘dog day’. This is because cicadas are mostly seen during the dog days of the late summer. These green-colored insects are more often heard than seen. Sometimes periodical cicadas are seen coming out of the ground in the spring when the temperature of the ground and soil is as low as 62 F (17 C). As most of them are seen coming out in groups, they resemble a swarm. Cicadas’ long lifespans of 13-17 years are connected to their life underground. Even though these bugs stay underground to suck up tree saps, it also keeps them away from predators. There aren’t many dangers below ground.During times when food supplies are low, grasshoppers can turn into a locust with their green color fading into a yellow-black color. These yellow-colored locusts, which are called gregarious locusts, are the ones that form swarms and attack farmers’ crops and vegetation in North America. The emergence of nymphs during the spring is considered to be a sign of concern for farmers in northeastern regions.Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for cicada vs locust: amaze-wing differences between buzzing insects! then why not take a look at chicken life cycle: amaze-wing facts from egg to adult chick explained, or chigger bites vs bed bug bites: the differences simplified for kids.
You might have seen periodical cicadas flying around trees, shrubs and gardens.
