Locusts vs. Cicadas

Main Difference

The main difference between locust and cicada is that locust is a type of grasshopper with a long body and large rear wings whereas the cicada is the cousin of cricket with a tiny body and large front transparent wings.

Difference Between Locusts and Cicadas

Comparison Chart

Locusts vs. Cicadas

Locust is a hopping insect. Cicada cannot jump like a locust. Locust is a mature grasshopper. The cicada is a locust that completes its thirteen- or seventeen-years life cycle. The classification order of locust is Orthoptera, whereas Hemiptera is order of cicada. Locust belongs to Acrididae family. Cicada is member of Cicadoidae family. The size of the locust is about 3 inches. The average size of the cicada is 1.75 inches.

Locust enters in green land and leaves it’s empty, eats every green thing. The cicada drinks the sap of plants. Locust has a long body conversely the body of cicada is short. The locust has large hind wings. The front wings of the cicada are large. The locusts do not possess transparent wings, while the wings of cicada are transparent. The locust has huge hind legs. All legs of cicada are equal in size.

The legs of locusts serves hopping purposes. Cicada uses its legs for piercing and tearing purposes. The locust is brown to yellow. The cicada is brown to black. The group form of the locust is called swarm. When cicada comes out in large numbers, it is called the cloud. The locust produces low voiced buzzing sound. The cicada produces loud noise.

Locust rubs its wings along its abdomen to produce a voice. The cicada produces a voice by its muscular structures of the abdomen. The locust causes huge economic loss. The cicada causes less land destruction. The life cycle of the locust is one year whereas cicada lives for seventeen years. locusts emerge every year, while some species of cicada come out every year, some once in seventeen years, and some come in huge number.

What are Locusts?

Locusts are species of the Acrididae family, are the type of short-horned grasshoppers. There is no highlighted difference between locust and grasshopper. Grasshoppers are not large in number and do not cause agricultural loss; thus, they are different from the locusts. Locust is solitary, but some conditions change their living behavior. After droughts, when greenery grows, specific changes occur in their minds; these species start to increase in number.

The body of locust consists of three major parts, head, thorax, and abdomen. A pair of antenna, large compound eyes, mouth, and jointed appendages are attached to the head. The jointed appendages are known as palps, used for food taste. Thorax provides a source for attachment of wings and legs. Thorax helps in walking and flying. The abdomen is a part of attachment of legs. The locust body has a distinct skin covering called cuticle.

Locusts are not dangerous, do not bite, are not poisonous, and do not transfer any disease in humans. But it causes considerable crop destruction. When a swarm enters a city, the city became barren, and every greenery finish. A mature locust eating in size more than its weight. Locust can eat every green thing. Locust produces soft buzzing noise; the sound is low. The average life span of the locust is one year. When a grasshopper reaches adulthood, it is called locust.

Types

• Desert Locust: These are the most dangerous form of locust. These species can affect the one-tenth population of the world. Desert locusts are polyphagous, can eat every kind of food.
• Migratory Locust: These are most mobile kind of locust, can fly with the wind. It is the widespread genus of locusts. It can eat many grams of food per day.
• Rocky Mountain Locust: These are extinct locust species. In their era, these species caused vast farm destruction.

What are Cicadas?

Cicada is cousins of crickets belongs to the Cicadoidea family. These are sound-producing insects, have a short body, long front wings, and large hind legs. Their species are small to medium-sized. Cicadas have three pairs of membranous wings, compound eyes, and simple eyes. Cicadas produce ticks, buzzes, and clicking sound; some species create a loud musical noise called a song; this is an exceptional voice used for calling their mates. Cicadas look like a tiny violin with wings.

Cicadas feed on xylem saps. Their diet is only liquid. Whenever they drink soup, their body gets hotter — the heat releases by sweating. The water comes out from the body, and the body cools down. The process is called evaporative cooling. They are underground builders. Their offspring are like rice grain. The newbie drops from the branch tree and starts digging the ground. The three to five years of their life cycle passes in underground battle.

Cicadas are not harmful to humans, even show a kind behavior. These do not have jaws and do not sting like wasps or honeybees. If cicadas bite a human by mistake, it transfers a probiotic in his body, which is painful but not harmful. As compared to locust, cicada causes negligible damage to agricultural land. There are 190 known varieties of cicada; every year, this number is increasing. The researchers are in progress to investigate new types.

Types of Life Cycle

• Periodical Cicada: These species come from the ground one time in a year in 13 years life cycle, .E .g. Magicicada periodical cicadas come out every 17 years.
• Annual Cicada: These species come from the ground every year. E.g., Swamp Cicadas in the United States of America and Green Grocers in Australia.
• Proto-Periodical Cicada: These species can emerge every year but comes out in huge numbers. E.g., Okanagan

Conclusion

The locust and cicada both are insects and somehow similar. The locust is a brownish-yellow insect that comes in the swarm and causes enormous economic loss. The cicadas are short brownish-black insects with transparent wings, are somehow kind to humans.