FaunaHub

Insects & Invertebrates comparison

Damselfly vs Cicada: Key Differences Explained

The short answer

Both are insects whose visible adult stage is the short end of a long hidden life, and both grow without a pupal stage. A damselfly nymph lives underwater, hunting other small animals with a hinged extendable mouthpart. A cicada nymph lives underground, feeding on sap from roots. Each then climbs clear, splits its skin and emerges as a winged adult that lives a fraction as long as the stage before it.

The main difference

Both grow gradually and hide their long immature stage, but a damselfly nymph is an aquatic predator while a cicada nymph is a subterranean sap-feeder.

They are the two insects most often used to illustrate the idea that a long juvenile life underlies a brief adult one, and comparing them shows the pattern is real while the biology behind it differs completely — one predatory and aquatic, one sap-feeding and subterranean.

At a glance

Comparison of Damselfly and Cicada across 7 dimensions, with an interpretation of each difference.
Order
DamselflyOdonata, suborder Zygoptera
CicadaHemiptera — the true bugs, with piercing-sucking mouthparts

Unrelated orders that arrived at a similar life-history shape independently.

Where the immature stage lives
DamselflyIn fresh water — ponds, streams, ditches and marshes
CicadaUnderground, attached to plant roots

Both are concealed for most of their lives, but in completely different media.A small number of damselflies, notably some Hawaiian species, develop in damp terrestrial leaf litter instead.

What the immature stage eats
DamselflyLive prey — other invertebrates, and small aquatic vertebrates in larger species
CicadaXylem sap drawn from roots through piercing mouthparts

Predator against sap-feeder, which is as wide a dietary gap as insects offer.

Feeding apparatus of the nymph
DamselflyA hinged extendable labium shot forward to seize prey
CicadaA slender stylet bundle inserted into root tissue

One mouthpart strikes outward; the other stays inserted for long periods.

Type of development
DamselflyIncomplete — nymph to adult with no pupal stage
CicadaIncomplete — nymph to adult with no pupal stage

This is the genuine shared feature, and it is why neither has a caterpillar-like larva.

Adult sound production
DamselflyNone; damselflies are silent to human ears
CicadaLoud calls produced by buckling paired ribbed membranes called tymbals

Male cicada song is among the loudest sound produced by any insect.

Adult flight
DamselflySlow and precise, with fore and hind wings worked independently
CicadaDirect and buzzing, over shorter distances between perches

The damselfly hunts on the wing; the cicada mostly uses flight to relocate.

How they are related

The two belong to different insect orders. Damselflies make up the suborder Zygoptera within Odonata, alongside the dragonflies, with some thousands of described species. Cicadas are true bugs, in the order Hemiptera and the superfamily Cicadoidea, related to leafhoppers and aphids rather than to anything odonate. What they genuinely share is a mode of development: both undergo incomplete metamorphosis, growing through a series of nymphal moults with no pupal stage, so neither has anything resembling a caterpillar or a chrysalis.

A note on naming: Both names cover large groups rather than single species. Damselfly means the suborder Zygoptera, with some thousands of species, and cicada covers the superfamily Cicadoidea; the long periodical cycles cicadas are famous for belong to a small number of North American species rather than to the group as a whole.

Telling them apart

The adults are unmistakable from one another. A damselfly is slender and delicate, with a needle-thin abdomen, widely separated eyes and, in most species, wings held closed above the body at rest. A cicada is stout and broad-headed, with a heavy body, short antennae, prominent eyes set at the corners of the head and clear wings held tent-like over the abdomen. Sound settles it instantly where both occur: cicadas are among the loudest of all insects and damselflies are silent.

Needle-thin body, widely separated eyes, wings closed above the back, near water, silent: damselfly. Stout body, broad head, tent-like wings, in a tree, extremely loud: cicada. If an empty split-backed case is attached to a plant stem at the water's edge it belonged to a damselfly, and if it is on a tree trunk away from water it belonged to a cicada.

Habitat and distribution

Each order's distribution follows where its nymphs can live. Damselflies are tied, with rare exceptions, to fresh water for the whole of their long immature stage, so they occur around ponds, lake margins, ditches, marshes, seepages and streams, with adults ranging only modestly from water. Cicadas are tied to trees and shrubs with accessible roots, and are most diverse in warm temperate and tropical regions; their nymphs may spend years in soil beneath the plants the adults later occupy. Neither group requires the other's habitat at any stage.

Diet and ecological role

The nymphs are as different as insects get. A damselfly nymph is an active predator, taking other aquatic invertebrates and, in larger species, small vertebrates, using a hinged labium that shoots forward to seize prey and draw it back. A cicada nymph is a sap-feeder, its stylets inserted into a root, drawing dilute xylem fluid for long periods — a low-nutrition diet that is part of why development takes so long. The adults continue in kind: damselflies hunt small flying insects, cicadas feed on plant fluids.

Behaviour

Emergence is the moment both are known for. Each climbs clear of its medium — the damselfly nymph up a stem out of the water, the cicada nymph out of the soil and onto a trunk — then splits its skin along the back and works free as a winged adult, leaving the empty case behind. Cicadas are famous for the scale and timing of this: some North American species emerge in enormous synchronised broods after long underground development, a pattern usually interpreted as overwhelming predators through sheer numbers. Damselflies emerge in a more staggered way and their adults hunt on the wing.

Senses and adaptations

Both adults are visually led, with large compound eyes, but their signature adaptations lie elsewhere. The damselfly nymph's hinged labium is a genuine mechanical striking apparatus, folded beneath the head and extended in a fraction of a second, and the adult's independently worked wings give the slow hovering flight used to pick prey off vegetation. The cicada's tymbals are paired ribbed membranes buckled by muscle to produce sound, amplified by largely hollow abdominal spaces in the males; their hearing organs are correspondingly developed, and some species can reduce their own hearing sensitivity while calling.

More on this topic: Animal senses and adaptations.

Lifespan and life stages

Both fit the pattern of long immaturity and brief adulthood, but the numbers differ by an order of magnitude. Damselfly nymphs commonly develop over several months to a year or more depending on species, water temperature and food, and most adults live a few weeks — with the exception of species that overwinter as adults, where that stage spans a whole winter. Cicada nymphs may spend several years underground, and in the periodical species of North America thirteen or seventeen years, before adults live a few weeks at most.

More on this topic: Animal lifespans.

People and these animals

Neither is kept, and both are noticed rather than managed. Damselflies are used widely as indicators of freshwater condition, since their nymphs are sensitive to pollution and to changes in oxygen and vegetation, and odonate recording schemes are among the better-established invertebrate monitoring efforts. Cicadas are mostly conspicuous rather than consequential, though heavy emergences attract attention and some species cause minor damage to young trees when females cut slits in twigs to lay. Both are affected by habitat loss — one through water quality, the other through tree cover.

Conservation context

Both groups contain species of concern and neither can be summarised as a whole. Damselflies are assessed species by species on the IUCN Red List, and freshwater odonates as a group face pressure from drainage, pollution, canalisation and drying — with narrow-range species on islands and in isolated streams the most vulnerable. Cicada assessments are far patchier, and many species have never been evaluated at all. Neither group should be described as threatened or secure without checking the individual species concerned.

Damselflies are assessed individually on the IUCN Red List and many cicadas have never been assessed at all, so neither group has a collective status. Check the species concerned rather than generalising from either name.

What they have in common

Key differences

Where people go wrong

Frequently asked questions

Do both insects go through a pupal stage?
No, and this is what they genuinely share. Both undergo incomplete metamorphosis: the animal hatches as a nymph, grows through a series of moults, and becomes a winged adult at the final moult with no pupa in between. That is why neither has anything resembling a caterpillar or a chrysalis. Insects with complete metamorphosis take an entirely different route, and neither of these does.
Which spends longer as an immature?
The cicada, generally by a wide margin. Damselfly nymphs commonly take several months to a year or more depending on species, water temperature and food supply. Cicada nymphs typically spend several years underground, and the periodical cicadas of North America famously spend thirteen or seventeen. Both then live as winged adults for only a few weeks, which is why both are used to illustrate the long-youth pattern.
How does a damselfly nymph catch its food?
With a hinged mouthpart called the labium, folded beneath the head and shot forward in a fraction of a second to seize prey and draw it back. It is a genuine mechanical strike rather than a lunge by the whole animal, and it is one of the more distinctive predatory devices among insects. A cicada nymph has nothing comparable: its mouthparts form a slender bundle of stylets inserted into a root and left there.
Why are cicadas so loud when damselflies make no sound at all?
Because male cicadas have tymbals — paired ribbed membranes on the abdomen that are buckled by muscle to produce a click, repeated fast enough to become a continuous call, and amplified by largely hollow abdominal spaces. It is a mate-attraction signal and is among the loudest sounds any insect makes. Damselflies have no sound-producing structure at all and signal visually instead, using colour and flight displays.
Do cicadas damage trees?
Mostly not to any significant degree. Nymphs feed on dilute sap from roots, which established trees generally tolerate, and adults feed on plant fluids. The damage that does occur usually comes from egg-laying, where females cut slits into slender twigs, which can cause dieback on young or newly planted trees during a heavy emergence. Damselflies cause no plant damage at any stage, being predatory throughout.

Read the full profiles

Related comparisons

Related FaunaHub guides

Sources and methodology

How this comparison is built: FaunaHub comparisons are assembled from the sourced animal profiles behind them rather than written as standalone claims. Figures such as size, mass, and lifespan are typical ranges that vary by subspecies, population, region, sex, age, and — where relevant — whether an animal lives in the wild or under human care, so they are presented as ranges rather than fixed values. Where a common name covers a group rather than a single species, the page says so instead of implying a species-to-species match. Conservation status changes over time and should be confirmed against the current IUCN Red List. Dimensions that could not be supported from the underlying profiles are omitted rather than filled in.

What this page does not do: it does not rank the two animals, predict the outcome of a confrontation, or present either one as stronger, smarter, or better. It is not veterinary, medical, first-aid, handling, capture, hunting, or pest-control guidance. For an animal in your care, or any situation involving injury, contact a qualified veterinarian, your local wildlife authority, or emergency services.

Sources and further reading

Authoritative references used for general educational context. External links open in a new tab. These sources do not endorse FaunaHub.

Last updated: