Cicadas in Southern California?

Question

There have been some loud singing bugs in the yard this week that sound like cicadas. I haven't seen the bugs making the noise yet, and I haven't been able to find any websites with evidence of cicadas living in southern California (San Diego). Does anyone know of any websites to confirm cicadas living down here, or know what other loud bugs live in this area?

Answer 1

Here's a link to an older paper about California cicadas:  http://essig.berkeley.edu/documents/cis/...

Dr. Louie Yang, a cicada researcher, works at UC Santa Barbara:  http://www.lifesci.ucsb.edu/~lyang/

Answer 2

While I can't offer you proof in the form of a website, I saw / heard my very first cicada today!

This account is from Murrieta, California. This is about 60 miles North of San Diego. It happened on 7-1-08 at about 11:00 AM.

I work as a swimming pool service tech. I was going to clean a pool at a mobile home park. I heard what I thought was a smoke detector alarm. When I walked past a bush, on my way to investigate the alarm, the noise stopped. Then it started again. Upon investigation, I found the cicada on the top of a tree/bush that was about 7 feet tall. I've lived in this area for about 20 years and don't recall ever hearing one before today.

I've been researching a lot today to find out if that was in fact a cicada and it was! It was in the  nymph stage. It was brown and a little more than 1 inch long. It was LOUD!

So, they're here!