Ash Cicada

Fascinating facts about the Ash Cicada

• A male ash cicada's song reaches 120 decibels — louder than a chainsaw, produced by vibrating tymbals (drum-like organs) on his abdomen 400 times per second. Females hear him from 200 metres away through ears hidden inside their legs. This is mating at maximum volume: he is literally the loudest insect in Europe.
• The ash cicada spends 2 to 5 years underground as a nymph, drinking from tree roots through a needle-like proboscis, before emerging for a single summer as a winged adult. That brief surface life lasts only 4 to 6 weeks — all the time he has to find a mate and reproduce before dying. Everything about him is built for that frantic sprint.
• A cicada's proboscis is finer than a human hair and can pierce bark as thick as a coin. Inside the tree, he taps directly into the phloem — the fluid highway that carries sugars from leaves to roots. He drains this sap all day, excreting excess water as 'honeydew' that sometimes rains down on Mediterranean hikers like liquid snow.
• Ash cicada nymphs live in soil packed with fungi and bacteria that help them extract nitrogen from tree sap — a diet lacking protein. This underground microbial partnership is essential; without it, the nymph starves. Scientists are only now learning how dependent cicadas are on these hidden soil allies.
• In 1788, ash cicadas became so abundant in southern Europe that their collective song was said to deafen people working outdoors. Population explosions still happen today when conditions align. What triggers these eruptions remains partly mysterious — a reminder that even the most familiar Mediterranean insect keeps secrets.

At a glance

About the Ash Cicada

In the sweltering heat of summer, the ash cicada emerges, its delicate wings unfolding like intricate lace as it takes to the air with a soft, whispery hum. As it moves through the world, its slender body glints with a subtle, ashen sheen, allowing it to blend seamlessly into the dappled shade of its woodland habitat, where it weaves a complex tapestry of sound and motion. With its haunting, melodic song, the ash cicada is a masterful orchestrator of the forest's symphony, its ethereal voice echoing through the trees like a ghostly whisper.

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