Cicadas!

According to Cuba:

The alleged “sonic attacks” are coming from cicadas and crickets.

This referring to the supposed “sonic attacks” the US embassy has complained of. Of course, this makes for great humor: Cuba bugged the US Embassy!

But it does make sense. Cicadas (we can forget crickets, I think) are small to medium sized bugs (hemiptera), totally different from beetles, although adults look similar. Unlike beetles, however, bugs do not have a larval stage. Instead, like grasshoppers and crickets, they grow by a series of instars called nymphs, which look like small wingless adults.

Transformation of the periodical cicada from the mature nymph to the adult. Wikimedia Commons

Cicadas live underground from birth until they’re ready to take their final form. They usually live many years (as much as 17) and many types, including the periodical cicadas, all come out together in the same year.

It makes sense then, given that the US Cuban embassy was just re-opened, that the first time this insect storm was experienced, people would think of technology rather than nature.

It also makes sense that the species involved in this location had not been studied, and so took everyone by surprise.