Size: 10 - 50mm

Identification: Broad insects with large heads, they have 4 membranous wings.

For the most part cicadas are heard before seen (The louder the noise the hotter the day). 
The adults feed on tree sap and while feeding they make a loud deafening buzzing sound, produced by their tymbals. The tymbal is a corrugated section of exoskeleton of some insects, which is used to produce sounds, in male cicadas these two membranes are found side by side in the abdomen.

While only the males make their characteristic sound to attract a female, both sexes have tympana by which they detect sounds. It is equidistant to having ears.

The interesting part of the cicada is their unusual life cycle.

The adult female lay her eggs in a crevasse of a tree branch. Shortly after hatching, the nymph falls to the ground then begins to burrow. Some burrow as deep as two-and-a-half metres underground where they feed on the sap from tree roots. Most species live underground for two to five years, but some for as long as 10 years or more. Once ready to transform into winged adults, they dig their way up to the surface, climbing about a metre up the host tree trunk or nearby grass where they shed their nymph exoskeleton and fly off in search of a mate. This usually occurs in late spring or early summer, hence the reason we hear the beetles around December or January.

While adults have mouth parts and can feed, their life as an adult is not long, lasting less than two months.