To most Oklahomans, cicadas are just those loud, annoying bugs we deal with each summer, a true indicator that it’s more than likely very hot outside. But what are these bugs, really?
“Cicadas are members of the insect order Hemiptera, making them cousins of stink bugs, bed bugs, aphids and lanternflies,” says K. James Hung, Ph.D., assistant professor at the University of Oklahoma and a heritage zoologist at the Oklahoma Biological Survey. “Although some people around here call them locusts, they are not closely related to true locusts, which are a kind of grasshopper.”
Their prominence in Oklahoma is due to a myriad of factors, but chiefly the forests and warm climate make it a suitable home.
“Baby cicadas, called nymphs, live underground and feed on the sap of plant roots, primarily from deep-rooted trees and shrubs. Oklahoma also has a warm climate, which is favorable to cicada development,” says Hung. Oklahoma also isn’t too wet, and since cicadas don’t thrive in cold places, the state winds up being a great mix.
Like most insects, cicadas also play a vital part in the growing ecosystem in Oklahoma.
“Cicadas help turn largely inaccessible biomass and energy – tree sap – into forms usable by animals – i.e. their bodies. Many bird species eat lots of cicadas,” says Hung.
Wyatt Hoback, Ph.D., a professor of entomology at Oklahoma State University, agrees that cicadas are much more than a nuisance.
“Cicadas are an important part of the ecosystem,” he shares. “They cause no harm to humans or pets, and even when millions emerge, the only damage is broken twig tips from where they lay eggs,” he says.
But why do they make those distracting noises we so closely associate with summer?
“They make the noise because that’s how they find mates,” explains Hung. “Only the males ‘sing,’ and the females find them to mate with them. Females don’t have the physical organs for sound production. In fact, [male cicadas] are the loudest of all insects, and some of the loudest invertebrates on Earth.”
As with most insects, their existence is short.
“The adult lifespan is weeks to about a month,” says Hoback. “They mate, lay eggs and their offspring start the long journey to adulthood.”
Although we only hear and see them during summer months, cicadas are just in hiding during the winter.
“Cicadas exist year round, but are only aboveground as adults – those that fly – in the warmer months because that’s when they are able to move around and find mates,” says Hung.
It might seem as though Oklahoma would be overrun, but nature always has a way to balance things out.
“Their numbers are controlled by predators, including large wasps called cicada killers,” explains Hoback.
It doesn’t appear as though Oklahoma will be getting a mass influx of cicadas anytime soon.
“2026 seems not to be a big year for periodical cicadas that emerge in huge masses,” says Hung.
Hoback concludes: “Oklahoma is due for ‘the big one’ in 2032, so mark your calendars.”
