Swamp cicada

Neotibicen tibicen

Eats: Plants True bugs and cicadasGardens and meadows6 legs

The swamp cicada is a big bug with see-through wings that lives in North America. It loves the sun and wakes up in the morning by sunbathing. Like other cicadas, it is famous for its loud summer song.

Lives in

Eastern and central United States and south-eastern Canada

Top speed

about 12 km/h (7.5 mph)

Flying, estimate

Can it hurt you?

Harmless

Harmless. It does not sting or bite people.

What does it eat?

It sips sap from plants with its mouth, which works like a tiny drinking straw.

Photo of Swamp cicada — Picture by Andrew C. CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How fast is it?

A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)

Swamp cicada about 12 km/h (7.5 mph)

A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)

A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)

cool stuff

Fun facts

It cannot make its own body warm, so every morning it sits in the sun until it is warm enough to get going.

It often sits on low plants, so it is the one of its cicada family that people find most often.

It may be the most common cicada of its kind in North America.

you asked

Most asked questions about Swamp cicada

?Why is it called the morning cicada?

Because it is most active in the morning, after it has warmed up in the sun.

?Is the swamp cicada dangerous?

No. It does not bite or sting people.

For bug experts

Scientific name: Neotibicen tibicen
Named by: Linnaeus, 1758
Group: True bugs and cicadas
Family: Cicadidae
Classification: Insecta > Hemiptera > Cicadidae
Lives on: North America
Also known as: Morning cicada

Where the facts come from

Neotibicen tibicen (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 Andrew C. CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.