Missouri Animals Big cicada   (Tibicen auletes) Arthropoda: Insecta: Homoptera Native North American insect Habitat: woodlands, forest Diet: root sap as larvae ID Features: unique call Natural History: The Big cicada grows to 42 mm - the longest of any cicada in North America. Often covered with a powdery coating called a "bloom", it is found from the end of July to mid-August. It spends the majority of its life as an underground insect, feeding, and metamorphoses in mid-summer to become a flying insect.

The graphics, text, and sound are from: Singing Insects of Missouri, Missouri Department of Conservation, ©1998.