Large insects with transparent wings that make extremely loud buzzing and clicking sounds, some of which live underground for years before emerging.
From Latin 'cicada,' possibly imitative of their sound or from an unknown source. The word traveled unchanged into English from classical times.
Periodical cicadas emerging after 13 or 17 years is one of nature's strangest synchronization events—they time their emergence to overwhelming predators by sheer overwhelming numbers, a strategy called predator satiation.
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