Cicada

Cicadas are a large group of insect species found on every continent except Antarctica, best known for the loud, continuous buzzing or clicking songs produced by males using specialized drum-like membranes called tymbals on the sides of the abdomen, among the loudest sounds produced by any insect. Cicada nymphs live underground for extended periods, feeding on fluid from plant roots, and in some North American species this underground stage lasts an unusually long and precise thirteen or seventeen years before the nymphs emerge together in massive, synchronized broods to molt into adults, a phenomenon studied as a striking example of predator-swamping survival strategy. Adult cicadas live for only a few weeks above ground, focused on mating, and while periodical cicada broods draw the most attention, most of the roughly three thousand known cicada species have shorter, less synchronized life cycles.