Annual cicadas are

Cicadidae Cicadidae, the true cicadas,World Auchenorrhyncha Database: fam ...

summer Summer or summertime is the hottest and brightest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, daylight hours are the longest and darkness hours are the shortest, with day ...

. The life cycle of an annual cicada typically spans 2 to 5'' ''years; they are "annual" only in the sense that members of the species reappear once a year. The name is used to distinguish them from periodical cicada species, which occur only in Eastern

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

, are developmentally synchronized, and appear in great swarms every 13 or 17'' ''years. All other cicadas from other biogeographic regions produce annual broods, so the distinction is not made outside of North America. Species called "annual cicada" include members of the genus '' Neotibicen'' ("dog-day cicadas"), '' Diceroprocta'', '' Neocicada'', and '' Okanagana''. (See

Cicada The cicadas () are a superfamily, the Cicadoidea, of insects in the order Hemiptera (true bugs). They are in the suborder Auchenorrhyncha, along with smaller jumping bugs such as leafhoppers and froghoppers. The superfamily is divided into two ...

for additional information.)

References

Cicadas {{Cicadidae-stub