Cicada Closeup After Wings Unfurled Royalty-Free Stock Photography

Cicadas are large insects made conspicuous by the courtship calls of the males. They are characterised by having three joints in their tarsi, and having small antennae with conical bases and three to six segments, including a seta at the tip. The Auchenorrhyncha differ from other hemipterans by having a rostrum that arises from the posteroventral part of the head, complex sound-producing membranes, and a mechanism for linking the wings that involves a down-rolled edging on the rear of the fore wing and an upwardly protruding flap on the hindwing. FingerLakes NYS Most cicadas go through a lifecycle that lasts from two to five years. Some species have much longer lifecycles, such as the North American genus, Magicicada, which has a number of distinct `broods` that go through either a 17-year, or in some parts of the region, a 13-year lifecycle. The long lifecycles may have developed as a response to predators.