About 1,500 species of cicadas are known, usually occupying deserts, grasslands and forests. More than 100 species are found in North. The most common of these is the black and green Harvest Fly, which matures in two years. After 17 years of dormancy underground, this species emerges for 5 weeks of activity in the sunlight, and then dies. With the exception of the termite queen, this cicada is probably the longest living insect.
True locusts are grasshoppers.
Different species of cicadas can be recognized by differences in their songs, behavior and morphology. After mating, females deposit eggs in slits they cut into twigs and branches. One female lays from 200 to 600 eggs and such activity can sometimes injure ornamentals. Eggs hatch into nymphs, which drop to the ground and burrow into the soil as much as 6 feet. Here they suck juices from roots of perennial trees and shrubs.