The earliest known fossil Cicadomorpha appeared in the Upper Permian period; extant species occur all around the world in temperate to tropical climates.

They typically live in trees, feeding on watery sap from xylem tissue, and laying their eggs in a slit in the bark.

One exclusively North American genus, Magicicada (the periodical cicadas), which spend most of their lives as underground nymphs, emerge in predictable intervals of 13 or 17 years, depending on the species and the location.

The family Cicadidae is subdivided into the subfamilies Cicadettinae, Cicadinae, Derotettiginae, Tibicininae (or Tettigadinae), and Tettigomyiinae,[8] and they are found on all continents except Antarctica.

Cicadinae Cicadettinae Tettigomyiinae Tibicininae Tettigarctidae Many of the North American species are the annual or jarfly or dog-day cicadas, members of the Neotibicen, Megatibicen, or Hadoa genera, so named because they emerge in late July and August.

These periodical cicadas have an extremely long life cycle of 13 or 17 years, with adults suddenly and briefly emerging in large numbers.

Many of them have common names such as cherry nose, brown baker, red eye, greengrocer, yellow Monday, whisky drinker, double drummer, and black prince.

[20] The first of these was a fore wing discovered in the Taynton Limestone Formation of Oxfordshire, England; it was initially described as a butterfly in 1873, before being recognised as a cicada-like form and renamed Palaeontina oolitica.

[22] Tettigarctidae and Cicadidae had diverged from each other prior to or during the Jurassic, as evidenced by fossils related to both lineages present by the Middle Jurassic (~ 165 million years ago) The morphology of well preserved fossils of early relatives of Cicadidae from the mid Cretaceous Burmese amber of Myanmar suggests that unlike many modern cicadids, they were either silent or only made quiet sounds.

[23] Most fossil Cicadidae are known from the Cenozoic,[24] and the oldest unambiguously identified modern cicadid is Davispia bearcreekensis (subfamily Tibicininae) from the Paleocene, around 56-59 million years ago.

They also have three small ocelli located on the top of the head in a triangle between the two large eyes; this distinguishes cicadas from other members of the Hemiptera.

[28] The surface of the fore wing is superhydrophobic; it is covered with minute, waxy cones, blunt spikes that create a water-repellent film.

[31] Desert cicadas such as Diceroprocta apache are unusual among insects in controlling their temperature by evaporative cooling, analogous to sweating in mammals.

[35] The "singing" of male cicadas is produced principally and in the majority of species using a special structure called a tymbal, a pair of which lies below each side of the anterior abdominal region.

The structure is buckled by muscular action and, being made of resilin, unbuckles rapidly on muscle relaxation, producing their characteristic sounds.

[16] The tettigarctid (or hairy) cicadas Tettigarcta crinita of Australia and T. tomentosa have rudimentary tymbals in both sexes and do not produce airborne sounds.

In addition to the mating song, many species have a distinct distress call, usually a broken and erratic sound emitted by the insect when seized or panicked.

Although they have mouthparts and are able to consume some plant liquids for nutrition, the amount eaten is very small and the insects have a natural adult lifespan of less than two months.

[51] Cicada nymphs drink sap from the xylem of various species of trees, including oak, cypress, willow, ash, and maple.

[60] The jets of urine that cicadas produce have a velocity of up to 3 meters per second, making them the fastest among all assessed animals, including mammals like elephants and horses.

In times of mass emergence of cicadas, various amphibians, fish, reptiles, mammals, and birds change their foraging habits so as to benefit from the glut.

[56] Several fungal diseases infect and kill adult cicadas, while other fungi in the genera Ophiocordyceps and Isaria attack nymphs.

[68] This fungus is also capable of dosing cicadas with psilocybin, the psychedelic drug found in magic mushrooms, as well as cathinone, an alkaloid similar to various amphetamines.

Being coloured like tree bark and disruptively patterned to break up their outlines, they are difficult to discern;[74] their partly transparent wings are held over the body and pressed close to the substrate.

[77] Most cicadas are diurnal and rely on camouflage when at rest, but some species use aposematism-related Batesian mimicry, wearing the bright colors that warn of toxicity in other animals; the Malaysian Huechys sanguinea has conspicuous red and black warning coloration, is diurnal, and boldly flies about in full view of possible predators.

[80] Cicadas have been featured in literature since the time of Homer's Iliad, and as motifs in decorative art from the Chinese Shang dynasty (1766–1122 BCE).

[82] In the classic 14th-century Chinese novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Diaochan took her name from the sable (diāo) tails and jade decorations in the shape of cicadas (chán), which adorned the hats of high-level officials.

[84] Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' play Appropriate takes place on an Arkansas farm in summer, and calls for the sounds of mating cicadas to underscore the entire show.

[96] Cicadas have been used as money, in folk medicine, to forecast the weather, to provide song (in China), and in folklore and myths around the world.

[110] Cicadas are not major agricultural pests, but in some outbreak years, trees may be overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of females laying their eggs in the shoots.