Neocicada hieroglyphica

This is the first of a few posts on annual cicadas.



Neocicada hieroglyphica barely exists in Kansas though it has a healthy range in eastern and southeastern states. In Kansas it usually appears close to mid-June and is often dead by early July, in contrast to more moderate climates in which it lasts until Autumn.

N. hieroglyphica shows a marked preference for oak trees and, In Kansas, does not range much off the Ozark Plateau in the extreme SE part of the state, though I did hear them last year a bit farther west.

I seldom actually see them as they prefer the higher portions of trees. I got lucky with the video above when I was able to spot one in the scrubby young oak trees beside a country road in extreme SW Missouri.

In 2015 it emerged while the last vestiges of the Brood IV periodical cicadas were still alive and I got to hear them together.