Atlantic SaltMarsh Cicada

The world of cicadas can be divided into two major camps, those that emerge periodically like the 13-year and 17-year cicadas whose swarms made headlines in the spring of 2024, and those that emerge every year throughout the year without much fuss or fanfare.

These are the so-called annual cicadas, and our guy, the Atlantic saltmarsh cicada, aka Diceroprocta viridifascia, is one of them.

Fact is all the cicadas found in Florida are of the annual persuasion; you have to go a bit north of the Sunshine State to find periodic species. Like the Atlantic saltmarsh cicada, they exist in large numbers and make the same kinds of sounds as their periodic cousins but are not as overwhelming visually or acoustically.

Atlantic saltmarsh cicadas have a natural range that extends as far north as the DelMarVa Peninsula, wraps south along the Atlantic coast around Florida and along the Gulf Coast, missing the Big Bend and the Panhandle but eventually continuing in Louisiana and Texas.

The cicadas found along the Gulf Coast have classified as either a subspecies, D s bequearti, or even a separate species, D bequearti, the Gulf marsh cicada. There some debate whether they might be more closely related to another cicada species scientifically known as D vitripennis.

Atlantic saltmarsh cicadas are usually found within a mile or so of the ocean. Favorite habitats include maritime hammocks, salt marshes (naturally!) and the dunes above the beach.

Like annual cicadas generally, you’re more likely to hear an Atlantic saltmarsh cicada than you are to see one. Cicadas make sounds using a drum-like structures on their abdomens called timbals. It’s the male that singing, most often a “calling” song intended to attract females. But if a predator attacks, the cicada might resort to a protest or disturbance squak hoping to startle the foe and escape.

Each species has its own pattern. University of Florida entomologists have worked out a guide for identifying the different species found in the Sunshine State. The Atlantic saltmarsh cicada has a slow, continuous zit zit zit zit.

There’s not a lot of specific information about the Atlantic saltmarsh cicada, but cicadas generally develop similarly. Females lay their eggs on branch of a tree or plant. Depending on the species, the eggs will hatch either later that same year or the following year. In either case, the nymphs fall to the ground and burrow underneath, where they’ll remain for at least the next four years.

As larvae, they live in burrows feeding on sap from various plant roots, which doesn’t offer a lot of nutrients. In large measure, the low nutritional diet is why all cicadas take years to develop into adults.

Regardless of the species, cicadas will molt four times while underground. They’ll molt a fifth and final time but above ground, climbing onto a tree or a plant and exiting the old exoskeleton.

Apparently annual grasses are the food of choice for adult Atlantic saltmarsh cicadas.

Atlantic saltmarsh cicadas are also commonly known as coastal scrub cicadas and seaside cicadas. They are members of Cicadidae, the cicada family.

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