Priest Cicada

Sinfonia opalifera

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Priest Cicada
Photo: t-mizo, CC BY

Males grow to about 42-46 mm and females to about 40-44 mm in length. It is native to China, Japan, the Korean Peninsula and Taiwan. Adults emerge in July and are typically gone by October.

Source: Wikipedia

Size

Males reach about 42-46 mm (1.7-1.8 in) and females about 40-44 mm (1.6-1.7 in).

Source: Wikipedia

Life cycle

Typical life cycle is around two years, ranging from two to five years.

Source: Wikipedia

When you see it

Adults appear in July and disappear by about October.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 51 of 51 states and DC. Most records: California, Texas, New York, Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Arizona, Massachusetts.

Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.

Source: GBIF

Months it is reported in the US

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Source: GBIF

More photos

Priest Cicada photo 3
Photo: Kim, Hyun-tae, CC BY
Priest Cicada photo 4
Photo: Norio Nomura, CC BY-SA
Priest Cicada photo 5
Photo: Kim, Hyun-tae, CC BY
Priest Cicada photo 6
Photo: Kim, Hyun-tae, CC BY

Same family ()

Bark Lice, Book Lice, and Parasitic LiceBark Lice, Book Lice, and Parasitic LicePsocopteraCan damage your homeThripsThripsThysanopteraCan bitePseudoscorpionsPseudoscorpionsPseudoscorpionesHarmlessDead-nettle Leaf BeetleDead-nettle Leaf BeetleFasta fastuosaDotted Paropsine Leaf BeetleDotted Paropsine Leaf BeetleParopsis atomariaDamages trees, gardens or cropsAustralian CockroachAustralian CockroachValidiblatta australasiae

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinfonia_opalifera

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-23 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.

How this page works

This is one bug's fact sheet. The colored box at the top says whether it is dangerous. Sections below cover how to recognize it, whether it is a pest, and how to deal with it. The US map shows which states have records; tap a state to see other bugs there.

Every fact on Bug FAQ comes from a named source (university extension sites, government agencies, GBIF, iNaturalist, Wikipedia). The source is linked next to each section. If we have no source for something, we leave it out.