Entoma
Eastern horse cicada, Cryptotympana atrata, plate

Cicadas

Cryptotympana atrata

Eastern horse cicada

This large, glossy black cicada is covered in fine golden hairs when newly emerged, and its heavy, deep buzzing call carries far further than smaller cicadas.

WhereForests and wooded parks in East Asia
Size36 to 44 mm body length
WhenMay to September

This is a large cicada with a glossy blackish brown body, reddish brown markings across the front of the pronotum, and clear wings with pale veins; newly emerged adults are covered in fine golden hairs that wear off with age.

Adults live in forests and wooded parks across China, the Korean Peninsula, Japan and Taiwan, where males produce a heavy, low pitched call from the canopy through summer, and nymphs develop underground for several years before emerging.

Traits

Habitat

Woodland

Colour

Black, Brown, Metallic

Active

Day

To people

Makes no attempt to bite or sting; calm to observe or hold briefly if found resting on a tree trunk.

Activity through the year

Often confused with

Black giant cicadaOpen entry ›
Cryptotympana facialis

Shows two pale bands across the middle of the abdomen that this species lacks, and gives a sharper, higher pitched call.

Questions

Is the Eastern horse cicada dangerous to people?

Makes no attempt to bite or sting; calm to observe or hold briefly if found resting on a tree trunk.

When can you see the Eastern horse cicada?

The Eastern horse cicada can be seen from May to September, by day.

Plate retouched from a museum specimen photo by Natural History Museum, CC0, GBIF Licence

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Last updated 2026-09-27. Every entry is checked against published sources.