Cicada vs Locust for Kids
Cicadas and locusts are both winged, plant-feeding insects with egg, nymph, and adult stages, but they are distant relatives with very different tools. A cicada is a true bug that drinks plant fluids, develops mainly underground, and is famous for male tymbal songs. A locust is a phase-changing short-horned grasshopper that chews vegetation, jumps on enlarged hind legs, and can form marching hopper bands and flying adult swarms. North Americans once called periodical cicadas “17-year locusts,” but that name is biologically incorrect: a cicada never becomes a locust.
Cicada
- Type: Insect
- Group: Cicadas form superfamily Cicadoidea in order Hemiptera, the true bugs. Almost all living species belong to family Cicadidae, while two hairy-cicada species form Tettigarctidae. The 17-year periodical cicada Magicicada septendecim is used as the clearly named visual example; most cicadas are not periodical Magicicada.
- Known for: A stout true bug with a broad blunt head, large eyes set far apart, three tiny simple eyes, short bristle-like antennae, a piercing-sucking beak beneath the head, and two pairs of clear veined wings held roof-like over the body. The Magicicada example is black with red-orange eyes and orange wing veins and is much smaller-bodied than a typical desert locust.
- Diet: Plant-fluid feeder. Nymphs insert piercing-sucking mouthparts into roots and drink mainly xylem fluid; adults also take watery plant fluids from woody stems and twigs. Cicadas do not have chewing jaws for stripping fields of leaves, and they do not eat crops in the locust manner.
- Special skill: A nymph’s shovel-like forelegs dig through soil, a narrow beak taps root fluids, transparent wings support adult dispersal, and paired ribbed tymbals on the male abdomen buckle rapidly to make species-specific calls. In periodical Magicicada, a long synchronized juvenile schedule floods predators with more adults than they can consume.
Locust
- Type: Insect
- Group: A locust is not one separate scientific family. It is a grasshopper species in family Acrididae, order Orthoptera, that can shift between a low-density solitarious phase and a crowded gregarious phase. The desert locust Schistocerca gregaria is used as the named visual and measurement example, but several unrelated acridid species can become locusts.
- Known for: A short-horned grasshopper with a long narrow body, large chewing mouthparts, short antennae, powerful enlarged hind legs, leathery forewings, and broad membranous hindwings. An adult desert locust is commonly about 4.5–6 centimeters long. Color, body proportions, activity, and behavior differ between solitarious and gregarious phases.
- Diet: Chewing herbivore. Desert locusts eat leaves, shoots, flowers, fruit, seeds, bark, grasses, wild plants, pasture, and crops. A gregarious adult can eat roughly its own body weight in fresh vegetation per day, while the exact menu and damage vary with species, phase, plant supply, and weather.
- Special skill: Huge jumping hind legs, long flight wings, wind-assisted navigation, flexible diet, underground egg pods, and density-sensitive phase polyphenism let a locust exploit brief green growth after rain. The same genome can produce dramatically different solitarious and gregarious insects without turning into a new species.
Quick Answer
Quick answer: A cicada is a stout true bug with a plant-sucking beak, clear wings, underground nymphs, and loud male calls made by abdominal tymbals. A locust is a short-horned grasshopper with chewing jaws and giant jumping legs that can change from a solitary phase into a crowded, migrating phase. Both can appear in huge numbers, but only locusts form phase-driven hopper bands and crop-eating swarms. A cicada is not a locust.
Cicada vs Locust: Quick Comparison
| Feature | Cicada | Locust |
|---|---|---|
| Scientific scope | Superfamily Cicadoidea in order Hemiptera | Phase-changing grasshopper species in family Acrididae, order Orthoptera |
| Named visual example | 17-year cicada, Magicicada septendecim | Desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria |
| Main mouthpart | Piercing-sucking beak for watery plant fluids | Side-moving chewing jaws for plant material |
| Hind legs | Ordinary walking and gripping legs; nymph forelegs are the main diggers | Enlarged muscular hind legs built for powerful jumps |
| Famous sound | Male song made by rapidly buckling paired abdominal tymbals | Grasshopper sounds can involve rubbing body parts, but swarming defines a locust |
| Nymph | Usually a root-fluid feeder living underground | A wingless above-ground hopper; crowded hoppers can march in bands |
| Mass appearance | Annual emergence or synchronized periodical brood | Density-driven gregarious band or flying swarm |
| Food effect | Usually little feeding injury; egg slits can damage small twigs | Large gregarious groups can strip vegetation, pasture, and crops |
| Life-cycle headline | Some Magicicada species emerge after 13 or 17 years underground | Desert locust egg-to-adult development can take weeks, with phase and maturity shaped by conditions |
| Best ID clue | Broad head, wide-set eyes, clear roof-like wings, no giant jumping thighs | Long grasshopper shape, short antennae, huge hind thighs, chewing head |
How Are Cicadas and Locusts Alike?
- Both are six-legged insects with an external skeleton, compound eyes, antennae, two pairs of adult wings, and life cycles that pass through egg, nymph, and adult without a pupal stage.
- Both depend on plants, respond strongly to temperature and rainfall, molt several times while young, leave empty exoskeletons, and become food for birds, reptiles, mammals, and other animals.
- Both can suddenly become extremely noticeable in a landscape, but a periodical-cicada emergence and a locust swarm arise through different biology.
- Both use sound or vibration in communication, although male cicadas specialize in tymbal songs and locust species use grasshopper-style signals rather than cicada drums.
- Both are harmless when simply observed at a respectful distance; neither hunts people, and a mass appearance should be watched without spraying or handling unless qualified crop authorities advise action.
How Are Cicadas and Locusts Different?
- Cicadas are true bugs in Hemiptera; locusts are grasshoppers in Orthoptera. They are no more the same insect than a butterfly and a beetle.
- A cicada drinks watery plant fluids through a piercing beak. A locust bites off plant tissue with chewing jaws and can consume leaves, stems, flowers, seeds, pasture, and crops.
- Cicada nymphs live mostly underground and use enlarged forelegs to dig. Locust nymphs are above-ground hoppers with giant hind legs and may march together when gregarious.
- Male cicadas buckle paired abdominal tymbals to create their famous calls. Locust identity depends on density-triggered phase change, not on making one particular sound.
- Periodical Magicicada broods synchronize a 13-year or 17-year juvenile schedule. Locust outbreaks do not follow that timetable; rain, breeding, vegetation, density, and movement build an upsurge.
- Cicada crowds are temporary reproductive emergences. Gregarious locusts actively orient toward one another, move as hopper bands or adult swarms, and show phase-related changes in behavior, color, physiology, and body proportions.
Cicada vs Locust Adaptation Showdown
Sound maker versus phase-changing grasshopper showdown: Locust wins representative adult size because the named desert locust is generally longer-bodied than the named periodical cicada. Locust wins speed for its powerful jumping legs and documented long-distance, wind-assisted swarm travel; this is not a fair laboratory race between every species. Strength is a tie because “strength” has no standardized group-wide test and each insect excels at a different task: cicada nymphs dig while locusts jump and chew. Stealth is a tie because cicadas hide for years underground and many adults match bark, while solitarious locusts can be cryptically colored in sparse vegetation. Locust wins social behavior because density can transform avoidance into coordinated bands and swarms; a cicada chorus is an aggregation, not a permanent cooperative society. Swimming is a tie because neither group is an aquatic specialist. Cicada wins strangest adaptation for pairing abdominal sound drums with the prime-number 13-year and 17-year schedules of periodical Magicicada. These categories compare survival tools, not combat.
Fun Cicada vs Locust Facts
A Locust Is a Grasshopper That Can Change Phase
Locusts are not a separate insect order and not every grasshopper is a locust. Certain short-horned grasshopper species can react to crowding by changing how strongly they seek other individuals. Repeated crowding also changes color, proportions, physiology, reproduction, and movement. Scientists call the low-density form solitarious and the crowded form gregarious; both belong to the same species.
A Cicada Sings With Abdominal Drums
Most male cicadas do not make their main song by rubbing wings like a cricket. Muscles rapidly buckle and release a pair of stiff ribbed membranes called tymbals on the abdomen. Air spaces in the body help shape and amplify the pulses into a buzz, whine, click, or musical phrase that females of the same species can recognize.
Some Cicadas Spend 13 or 17 Years Underground
The seven periodical cicada species in genus Magicicada spend nearly all of their juvenile lives below ground, feeding from roots, then emerge in synchronized broods after 13 or 17 years. Most other cicadas have shorter or less synchronized schedules and may appear every summer because overlapping year classes mature at different times.
Locust Crowding Can Rewrite Behavior Within Hours
Experiments with desert locusts show that social attraction can begin after only a few hours of crowding, while full changes in color and body form build over molts and generations. Touch, sight, smell, and repeated contact all contribute. The result is phenotypic plasticity: one species can express two very different packages of traits without changing its DNA sequence into a new species.
Their Nymphs Live in Different Worlds
A cicada nymph is a pale underground digger with thick forelegs and a beak connected to roots. A locust nymph is an above-ground hopper shaped like a wingless small adult, feeding on leaves and traveling on enlarged hind legs. Both molt instead of forming a pupa, but one grows under the soil and the other grows in sunlight.
Cicada vs Locust Quiz
- Is a cicada a kind of locust? Answer: No. A cicada is a true bug; a locust is a phase-changing grasshopper.
- What makes the main male cicada song? Answer: Paired abdominal membranes called tymbals.
- What is a young wingless locust commonly called? Answer: A hopper or nymph.
- What happens when certain grasshoppers become crowded? Answer: They can shift toward the gregarious locust phase and form bands or swarms.
- Which cicadas have famous 13-year and 17-year schedules? Answer: Periodical cicadas in genus Magicicada.
Cicada vs Locust FAQ
Are cicadas and locusts the same?
No. Cicadas belong to superfamily Cicadoidea in order Hemiptera. Locusts are certain short-horned grasshoppers in family Acrididae, order Orthoptera, that can undergo density-driven phase change. The old phrase “17-year locust” refers incorrectly to a periodical cicada.
Which insect makes the loud summer buzz?
Usually the cicada. Male cicadas create species-specific calls with paired tymbals on the abdomen. Grasshoppers can make sounds too, but a locust is defined by its phase-changing swarming biology, not by one buzz.
Do cicadas destroy crops like locusts?
No. Cicadas drink watery plant fluids and normally cause little feeding damage. Large emergences can injure young twigs when females cut egg slits. Gregarious locust bands and swarms chew vegetation and can cause severe crop and pasture losses.
Do all cicadas live underground for 17 years?
No. Only particular North American Magicicada species have synchronized 13-year or 17-year cycles. Thousands of other cicada species follow different schedules, and overlapping generations make many “annual” cicadas appear every year.
Do locust swarms appear every set number of years?
No. Locust upsurges depend on rainfall, moist egg-laying soil, green vegetation, successful breeding, crowding, and migration. They do not run on the fixed 13-year or 17-year schedule of periodical cicadas.
Animal Words to Know
- Tymbal: A ribbed sound-producing membrane that a male cicada rapidly buckles and releases.
- Locust phase: One of the solitarious or gregarious packages of behavior, color, body form, and physiology expressed by a phase-changing grasshopper.
- Hopper: A wingless grasshopper or locust nymph.
- Brood: A geographically and chronologically named population of periodical cicadas that emerges together.
- Incomplete metamorphosis: Development through egg, nymph, and adult without a pupal stage.
Build a Sound-and-Swarm Insect Lab
Build a Sound-and-Swarm Insect Lab
Make two same-scale paper insects and a split habitat. Give the Magicicada a broad black body, red-orange eyes, clear orange-veined wings, short antennae, beak, underground root-feeding nymph, digging forelegs, empty shed skin, paired tymbal circles, tree chorus, twig egg slits, and 13-or-17-year cycle wheel. Give the desert locust a longer grasshopper body, short antennae, giant hind thighs, chewing jaws, leathery forewings, broad hindwings, sandy egg pod, green hopper, solitarious card, gregarious card, marching band arrows, flying swarm arrows, rain cloud, and crop-leaf card. Add shared insect, six legs, compound eyes, molt, nymph, wings, plant food, predator food, and no-pupa cards. Tap a ridged paper cup to model a tymbal and slide locust cards closer to model crowding without using live insects. Observe real insects from a distance, protect hearing near intense cicada choruses, never spray or capture wildlife for the activity, and leave agricultural locust response to trained local authorities.
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