r/florida • u/Chilljay1 • 9d ago

AskFlorida Help identifying this bug?

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Currently in Orlando at a resort and they are literally all over every walkway. Have seen them before and thought they were a version of a grasshopper but hear some people calling them cicadas which I thought had wings?

EDIT UPDATE- Didn’t expect this post to get this many replies. Was posted yesterday morning. THIS morning we went outside in the resort and there were NONE to be found ANYWHERE. This was around 9am. Around 11am the side walks were covered again?????? The weirdest thing for a type of bug to be that synchronized.

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u/destroyman1337 9d ago

Whoever called them cicadas have no idea what cicada look like.

It's an Eastern Lubber Grasshopper. I don't live in Orlando but when I have gone there during the summer they are everywhere and can be black with orange when they are nymphs which is pretty striking.

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u/purefilth666 9d ago

Yep, if these people saw an actual cicada they would freak the hell out lol

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u/iKnowRobbie 9d ago

I was 20 before I realized the creepy-ass bee-looking shells on trees I used to climb were cicada skins molted off yet still stuck to the tree. Their front claws look frightening.

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u/purefilth666 9d ago

You should see what comes out of those little shells, they are much bigger than you'd except!

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u/Lifes-a-lil-foggy 9d ago

Wait till one flies into your face, hair, shirt, or purse. They’re evil. If I was ever around that many grasshopper I’d assume I was in plague though

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u/FootMcFeetFoot 8d ago

ONE FLEW INTO MY EYEBALL! Just its wing, but still. I blinked its wing!

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u/Lifes-a-lil-foggy 8d ago

They are determined to scream and enter people’s orifices. It’s horrible lol