🚨 ARTHROPOD OF THE DAY 🚨

During summer, the Scissor Grinder Cicada produces a rhythmic clicking song, which sounds like the noise of sharpening scissors.

These medium-sized insects have a beige or light brown underside that contrasts with their dorsal thorax. Their black thoraxes with green accents blend into the tree bark, making them difficult to spot.

Moreover, they inhabit the deciduous forests of the eastern and central United States and prefer apple trees as their habitat. They have adapted to urban and suburban areas and survive on a sap diet, which they sip from the tree bark using their specialized mouthparts.

The Scissor Grinder Cicada lives an underground existence of 2-5 years for nymphs after hatching from eggs laid by female cicadas in tree twigs. After this period, they emerge as fully formed cicadas.