Southern Grass Cicada

Cicadettana calliope · Order: Hemiptera · Family: Cicadidae

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Southern Grass Cicada
Photo: aispinsects, CC BY

Its median life cycle from egg to natural adult death is about four years. The species was formerly placed in the genus Cicadetta, so it can be mistaken for other Cicadetta cicadas.

Source: Wikipedia

How to recognize it

Southern Grass Cicada (Cicadettana calliope) is a cicada species in the family Cicadidae.

Source: Wikipedia

Life cycle

Its median total life cycle from egg to natural adult death is around four years.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it comes from

It is found in North America.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 21 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Mississippi, Kansas, Florida, Nebraska, Illinois, Louisiana, Texas, North Carolina.

Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.

Source: GBIF

Status: native in North America; native in United States. Source: iNaturalist

Months it is reported in the US

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Source: GBIF

More photos

Southern Grass Cicada photo 2
Photo: iNaturalist user, CC0
Southern Grass Cicada photo 3
Photo: iNaturalist user, CC0
Southern Grass Cicada photo 4
Photo: Megan Massa, CC BY
Southern Grass Cicada photo 5
Photo: Marshall Cleveland, CC BY

Same family (Cicadidae)

Northern Dog-day CicadaNorthern Dog-day CicadaNeotibicen canicularisSwamp CicadaSwamp CicadaNeotibicen tibicenPharaoh CicadaPharaoh CicadaMagicicada septendecimAsh CicadaAsh CicadaCicada orniScissor GrinderScissor GrinderNeotibicen pruinosusSuperb Dog-day CicadaSuperb Dog-day CicadaNeotibicen superbus

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicadettana_calliope

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-24 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-24.

How this page works

This is one bug's fact sheet. The colored box at the top says whether it is dangerous. Sections below cover how to recognize it, whether it is a pest, and how to deal with it. The US map shows which states have records; tap a state to see other bugs there.

Every fact on Bug FAQ comes from a named source (university extension sites, government agencies, GBIF, iNaturalist, Wikipedia). The source is linked next to each section. If we have no source for something, we leave it out.