Apple is attacked very successfully. Stone fruits may be attacked, especially under heavy population pressure, but are less suitable hosts. Research in Pennsylvania has shown that if the wound is gummed, mortality of the egg mass can result. Gumming increases with the number of attacks per tree. Wings are clear and held tentlike over the body.
Antennae appear as small bristles protruding from the head.
Females have a sharpened ovipositor, used for inserting eggs in wood, that is normally kept retracted in a groove along the underside of the abdomen. Nymphs are seldom seen, since they cling to tree roots as they feed, holding the roots with their grasping front legs. Periodical cicada spends most of its life as a nymph, feeding on xylem sap from tree roots. In the final year of development, nymphs crawl from the soil, climbing tree trunks or any other structure. During the night, the nymphal skin splits along the midline, and the adult emerges.