Growing up in the 1960s and 70s in Uniondale and Hempstead, one entomologist recalled hundreds of cicadas clinging to tree trunks, singing their persistent buzzing, whirring mating songs.

In Ocala National Forest, Florida, a cicada slowly unfurls its wings and expands its body after emerging from its exoskeleton. Photograph By Nicholas Conzone All periodical cicadas in a given year ...

Cicadas are members of the superfamily Cicadoidea and are physically distinguished by their stout bodies, broad heads, clear-membraned wings, and large compound eyes. There are more than 3,000 ...

Their mouthparts aren't capable of that. But "cicadas will defend themselves by flicking their wings, making their iconic loud buzzing, or urinating on you," says Emma Grace Crumbley, an ...