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Sticker of Scissor grinder
Bug card No. 1201 of 1,500

Scissor grinder

Neotibicen pruinosus
Name means: “Pruinosus is Latin for frosty, and scissor grinder comes from its song, which sounds like scissors on a grinding wheel.”
Eats: PlantsTrue bugs and cicadasForests and woods6 legs

The scissor grinder is a cicada with a green body covered in fancy markings and an all-black tail end. Its loud song sounds like scissors being sharpened on a spinning stone. You can hear it in woods across the eastern USA.

Lives in
Most of the eastern USA, in woods and wooded grassland
Top speed
about 12 km/h (7.5 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. Cicadas do not sting and are not dangerous.
What does it eat?
It pokes its straw-like mouth into trees and drinks the watery sap inside.
For real!Photo of Scissor grinder
Picture by xpda. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Its name comes from its sound, which is like scissors on a grinding wheel.

2

Its second name pruinosus means frosty in Latin.

3

Its group name Neotibicen means new flute player.

4

In a few places in Kansas and Oklahoma there is a rare pale kind that is much lighter in colour.

you asked

Most asked questions about Scissor grinder

?Why is it called a scissor grinder?

Because its song sounds like scissors being sharpened on a grinding wheel.

?What does the scissor grinder eat?

It drinks sap from trees through its straw-like mouth.

?Is a scissor grinder cicada dangerous?

No. Cicadas do not bite or sting people.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Neotibicen pruinosus
Group
True bugs and cicadas
Family
Cicadidae
Classification
Insecta > Hemiptera > Cicadidae
Lives on
North America

Where the facts come from

  1. Neotibicen pruinosus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by xpda. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.

More from the same group: True bugs and cicadas

Also at home here: Forests and woods