The Loudest Insect On Earth

Cicadas are known be extremely loud, and their sounds tend to annoy most people. So it should be of no surprise that Cicada’s are on record as being the loudest insects in existence.

The European Mole Cricket was previously believed to make the loudest sounds of any insect. The European Mole Cricket can be heard as loud as ninety six decibels from fifty centimeters away. This is impressively loud for a small insect, but it turns out that many different species of Cicada often produce sounds that are even louder. For example, the species of Cicada known as Tibicen Walkeri currently holds the record as the loudest bug, with the ability to produce sounds that clock in at more than 108 decibels.

Cicadas that have relatively larger bodies than most Cicadas also produce louder sounds. The female Cicadas are attracted to the males that produce the loudest sounds, but Cicadas have to pay close attention to the level of noise that they produce since their mating calls also attract predators. Since larger bodies mean louder sounds experts believe that the Empress Cicada found in Southeast Asia is the largest of all Cicada species on account of its greater body size. However, scientists have not yet measured the decibel level of this species.

Is the positive correlation between the decibel level of the Cicadas sounds and its body size typical of other animals as well?