Photograph by Matt Bertone, used with permission.įigure 2. Periodical cicada ( Magicicada septendecim). However, they can be distinguished based on size, color, and emergence time: annual cicadas are larger with greenish wing veins (Figure 2) and emerge from July through September instead of late May through early June.įigure 1. Periodical cicadas may be confused with various species of annual cicadas, which emerge every year. IdentificationĪdult periodical cicadas are about one and one-half inches long, mostly black in color with reddish-orange eyes and wing veins (Figure 1). Three species of 17-year cicadas occur in Pennsylvania and may emerge at the same time. 17-year cicadas generally have a northern distribution while 13-year cicadas are more southern, although they exhibit considerable overlap in the middle of the United States from North Carolina and Georgia west to Missouri and both types may be found in the same forest.

There are seven species, three of which have 17-year lifecycles and four of which have 13-year lifecycles. Periodical cicadas are native to eastern North America and are found nowhere else. Young trees can sometimes be damaged or killed, but this can usually be avoided by delaying transplant or covering at-risk trees with netting. Cicadas do not bite people and are usually at most a mild nuisance because of the noise they produce. Periodical cicadas are native to eastern North America and mass emerge in in huge broods.