What are the physical differences between 13 and 17 year cicadas? And what about annual cicadas? - Ask Extension
The more I am learning about cicadas, the more questions I have about them. What are the physical differences between 13 and 17 year cicadas? Do they...
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What are the physical differences between 13 and 17 year cicadas? And what about annual cicadas? #896733
Asked April 08, 2025, 2:46 PM EDT
The more I am learning about cicadas, the more questions I have about them. What are the physical differences between 13 and 17 year cicadas? Do they have the same red eyes, orange veins in their wings, and black bodies?
I am finding images with some periodical cicadas with striped underbellies. What about annual cicadas - are there different species, or are all the ones found in United States green and black, with black eyes. So many of the pictures I find in children's nonfiction books (I am an elementary school librarian) seem to have color alterations in the photographs. Can you help me with these questions, and also recommend a good nonfiction book about both annual and periodical cicadas for an elementary school library? If there isn't one, I want to write it! :-) Lastly, different sources tell me different things about whether or not Brood XIV will be emerging in Maryland in April and May. Can you provide insight on this, as well?
Montgomery County Maryland
Expert Response
There are many species of cicada around the world, so book authors might be using any number of representations depending on whether they are trying to show a species from a certain region or not. Maryland is home to over a dozen species of cicada, some "annual," some periodical. Annual cicadas really have more than the one-year life cycle that their name implies, but since there are emergences every year, that gives them their name to distinguish them from the much longer life cycles of the periodical cicadas. The cicadas making up 13-year and 17-year broods overlap in species composition; it's generally the generation they belong to, not the species itself, that determines which brood they fit into.
One web resources you can explore is the Cicada Mania website, which includes species information by state. As a rough generalization, yes -- the periodical cicadas have the red eyes, smaller body size, and wing markings, whereas the annual cicadas are more green and black, and larger-bodied. They also emerge at different times of year and do not overlap much, with periodical cicadas emerging around late spring and lasting into early summer, and annual cicadas emerging more mid- to late summer.
Unfortunately I'm not aware of any book along the lines you're interested in. (There might be one or more, but I just am not familiar with them.)
Cicada Mania's site includes emergence information by brood. Maryland is not expecting any large-scale emergences this year.
Miri
One web resources you can explore is the Cicada Mania website, which includes species information by state. As a rough generalization, yes -- the periodical cicadas have the red eyes, smaller body size, and wing markings, whereas the annual cicadas are more green and black, and larger-bodied. They also emerge at different times of year and do not overlap much, with periodical cicadas emerging around late spring and lasting into early summer, and annual cicadas emerging more mid- to late summer.
Unfortunately I'm not aware of any book along the lines you're interested in. (There might be one or more, but I just am not familiar with them.)
Cicada Mania's site includes emergence information by brood. Maryland is not expecting any large-scale emergences this year.
Miri
