Dedicated to cicadas, the most amazing insects in the world.
Majeorona aper (Walker, 1850) is a cicada found in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Panama, and likely adjacent nations.
Photo by Leonardo Milhomem:
Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadinae
Tribe: Fidicinini
SubTribe: Guyalnina
Genus: Majeorona
Species: Majeorona aper (Walker, 1850)
Quesada gigas (Olivier, 1790) Is a cicada found in the United States (Texas), Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Guyana, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Tobago, Trinidad, and Venezuela. It is the largest cicada in these locations.
Quesada gigas from Brazil, Photo by Leonardo Milhomem.
See all Quesada gigas photos and information on cicadamania.com.
Source: ©Insect Singers | Species: Q. gigas
Playlists contain multiple videos found on YouTube.
Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadinae
Tribe: Fidicinini
Genus: Quesada
Species: Quesada gigas (Olivier, 1790)
The image says Tympanoterpes gigas but its newest name is Quesada gigas.
Stal treated this species as a synonym of T. grossa, Fabr. The type of the Fabrician species, however, is in the Banksian collection contained in the British Museum, and is very distinct, the opercula being large and rounded.
The figure given in the Encyclopedic Methodique is, like Stal’s, useless for any practical purpose. Among the habitats of this wide-ranging species is that given by Walker 2, ” West coast of America,” which, as before remarked in connexion with other species, seems clearly to refer to Central America. The forms inhabiting this region (of which a Guatemalan specimen is figured) appear to be somewhat smaller than more southern specimens, or do not exhibit the gigantic specimens which are frequently and commonly received from the southern portion of the Neotropical Region.
Mr. Gervase F. Mathew (Ent. Mo. Mag. xi. p. 175) gives some interesting details relating to this insect as observed at Tobago. As regards its powers of stridulation he writes of a ” tropical afternoon: ” — ” Suddenly, from right above, you hear one or two hoarse, monotonous cries something like the croak of a tree-frog, and, looking upwards, wonder what it can be. But wait a moment ; this is merely a signal ; for the next minute everywhere above and around you these croaks are repeated in rapid and increasing succession until they merge into a long shrill whistle almost exactly similar to the whistle of a first-rate locomotive ; this continues for nearly half a minute, and then abruptly terminates.” ” Presently similar cries will be heard in the far distance, as if in reply to those which have just died away overhead. The whistling pierces one’s ears to such a degree that its vibrations can be felt long after it has ceased.”
Mr. Mathew describes this species as frequenting trees growing in ravines where the soil is generally soft and damp, in which their larvae and pupae find no difficulty in burrowing. ” When the latter are full-grown and ready for their last transformation, they emerge from the ground and crawl about four or five feet up the trunk of a tree, when they firmly fix themselves to the bark by means of their powerfully hooked fore tibiae.” ” The flight of the mature Cicada is abrupt, rapid, and by no means graceful ; and it does not appear to have the power of controlling itself when on the wing ; for I have often seen it fly in an insane manner against the trunk of a tree, a branch, or any other object that might be in its line of flight; and when it has performed its journey without any accident, it alights abruptly and awkwardly. As a rule, however, it does not attempt to fly to any great distance at a time.”
The Giant Cicada / Chicharra Grande page on the Texas Entomology websites is a very good resource, particularly in relation to the state of Texas.
This one’s a bit of a brain twister, so I’m going to dump some facts and run.
Proarna albida is a former name for two species: Proarna insignis Distant, 1881 and Proarna olivieri Metcalf, 1963.
Scientific classification down the genus:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadinae
Tribe: Fidicinini
SubTribe: Guyalnina
Genus: Proarna
The image below might be either one…
Description for Proarna albida from Insecta. Rhynchota.:
This species is strikingly variable, both in size and also as regards the length of the second apical area of the tegmina. Stoll’s figure being very unsatisfactory, I have here figured a specimen from Costa Rica.
Found in: Costa Rica, Trinidad, Guyana, Suriname, and Brazil.
Description for Proarna insignis from Insecta. Rhynchota.:
Var. insignis:
Body much broader than in any varietal forms of P. albida which have passed through my hands, lateral margins of pronotum more ampliated, markings of the tegmina darker and more distinct.
Long. 24 millim., exp. tegm. 63 millim.
Three females possessing this form have passed through my hands. As I have not seen the their sex, and can find no sufficient structural character in the female of specific value, I have felt it necessary to give a varietal name for the present, to prevent confusion.
Found in NicaraPanamand Panama.
For comparison sake, P. olivieri is found in Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Brazil, Guyana, French Guiana, Surinam, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Cuba, Central America, South America. All over the place. From the notes within the Catalogue of the Cicadoidea (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha).
Whatever the latest name for Proarna albida is, it’s a nice looking cicada:
Fidicinoides spinicosta (Walker, 1850) is a cicada from Costa Rica, Panama, Guiana, French Guiana, and Brazil.
Fidicinoides spinicosta was formerly known as Fidicina spinicosta. Its name changed when it moved from the Fidicina Amyot & Audinet-Serville, 1843 genus to the Fidicinoides Boulard & Martinelli, 1996 genus.
Update (2/19/2019): this cicada is now Guyalna bicolor (Olivier, 1790). All add more info soon.
Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadinae
Tribe: Fidicinini
SubTribe: Fidicinina
Genus: Fidicinoides
Species: Fidicinoides spinicosta (Walker, 1850)
Fidicinoides fumea (Distant, 1883) is a cicada found in Panama.
Fidicinoides fumea was formerly known as Fidicina fumea. Its name changed when it moved from the Fidicina Amyot & Audinet-Serville, 1843 genus to the Fidicinoides Boulard & Martinelli, 1996 genus.
Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadinae
Tribe: Fidicinini
SubTribe: Fidicinina
Genus: Fidicinoides
Species: Fidicinoides fumea (Distant, 1883)
The image might say Fidicina fumea, but the newest name for this cicada is Fidicinoides fumea.
F. fumea species description by W. L. Distant, from Insecta. Rhynchota.:
Head and thorax above olivaceous. Head with the front marked with a central lunate spot, a central longitudinal line and the basal margin black; vertex broadly black between the eyes, which are bronzy; the ocelli pale shining castaneous. Pronotum with an elongate black spot on centre of inner border of posterior margin. Mesonotum with the following black spots and markings: — anterior margin with two central obconical spots, followed laterally on each side by a much larger and more pointed spot; between the anterior angles of the cruciform elevation is a longitudinal and somewhat wedge-shaped spot, pointed anteriorly and widened and rounded posteriorly; on each side of this is a small rounded spot and a basal and lateral streak; cruciform elevation greenish ochraceous. Abdomen black. Body beneath black, sparsely and ochraceously pilose; legs castaneous and more or less streaked and marked with black. Rostrum pale castaneous, the apex pitchy. Tegmina and wings pale smoky hyaline, the first with the base opaque and pitchy, and the basal half of the venation and the costal membrane greenish ochraceous, the apical venation more or less pitchy. Wings like tegmina, with the base opaque and pitchy, and the margins of the claval area of the same colour.
Dorachosa explicta Distant, 1892, is a cicada found in Panama.
Slight name change, could be just a grammar issue, Dorachosa explicata changed to Dorachosa explicta.
Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadettinae
Tribe: Taphurini
SubTribe: Taphurina
Genus: Dorachosa
Species: Dorachosa explicta Distant, 1892
Carineta trivittata Walker, 1858 is a cicada found in Mexico, Guatemala, Panama, and Costa Rica.
Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadettinae
Tribe: Carinetini
SubTribe: Carinetiina
Genus: Carineta
Species: Carineta trivittata Walker, 1858
Carineta cinara Distant, 1883, is a cicada found in Panama.
Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadettinae
Tribe: Carinetini
SubTribe: Carinetiina
Genus: Carineta
Species: Carineta cinara Distant, 1883
Carineta cinara species description by W. L. Distant:
Body above castaneous, sparingly covered with greyish pubescence. Front of head pale ochraceous, with a central longitudinal impression. Pronotum with a central [hourglass]-shaped space, denoted and bordered by striae, on each side of which are two oblique striae, the outer one submarginal and somewhat curved. Mesonotum darker in color, with two very ill-defined discal paler fasciae; cruciform elevation at base ochraceous. Body beneath concolorous, with the face pale ochraceous. Tegmina and wings pale smoky hyaline; tegmina with a central pair of longitudinal smoky fasciae in apical areas (excluding first), those in the eighth area indistinct, and a single series of the same on outer margin.
The head, including eyes, is about equal in width to mesonotum, and narrower than base of pronotum. The face has a narrow central longitudinal sulcation, the sides are strongly transversely striated, with the interstices wide apart. The abdomen beneath has the lateral margins much raised. The anterior femora are armed with three long and strong spines, and the posterior tibiae with three inner and two outer long, slender, marginal spines. First apical area of the tegmina very much longer than the second.
Carineta verna Distant, 1883, is a cicada found in Panama.
Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadettinae
Tribe: Carinetini
SubTribe: Carinetiina
Genus: Carineta
Species: Carineta verna Distant, 1883
Carineta verna species description by W. L. Distant:
Head with the vertex pale castaneous, the front greenish and the eyes fuscous. Pronotum green, tinged with ochraceous. Mesonotum dull ochraceous, with two faintly indicated central obconical spots at anterior margin, a small rounded black spot near each anterior branch of the cruciform basal elevation, and the basal lateral margins pale greenish. Abdomen above and beneath pale castaneous. Head and thorax beneath pale greenish ochraceous and pilose; legs ochraceous, more or less tinged with greenish, tarsal claws and the extreme apices of intermediate and posterior tibiae fuscous. Rostrum ochraceous, the apex pitchy and reaching the posterior coxae. Tegmina and wings pale hyaline, the venation greenish and ochraceous; first apical area much longer than second, and about equal in length to fourth, fifth, and sixth. Anterior femora armed beneath near apex with three prominent and distinct spines, gradually decreasing in size.
Carineta aestiva Distant, 1883, is a cicada found in Panama.
Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadettinae
Tribe: Carinetini
SubTribe: Carinetiina
Genus: Carineta
Species: Carineta aestiva Distant, 1883
Carineta aestiva species description by W. L. Distant:
Head pale castaneous, very hirsute, the front ocelli and eyes ochraceous. Pronotum ochraceous tinged with greenish, the anterior and posterior margins olivaceous, the last inwardly fuscous. Mesonotum dull dark ochraceous, with two faintly indicated central obconical spots at anterior margin, two large and contiguous black spots between the anterior branches of the basal cruciform elevation, a more obscure black spot on each side of the same, and the basal lateral margins pale greenish. Abdomen above and beneath castaneous. Head and thorax beneath ochraceous and pilose; legs pale castaneous; coxae, femoral apices, and tibial bases ochraceous. Rostrum pale castaneous, the base ochraceous, the apex pitchy and reaching the posterior coxae. Tegmina and wings pale and very slightly smoky hyaline; venation ochraceous towards base, and pale fuscous towards apex; first apical area much longer than second, and about equal in length to fourth, fifth, and sixth.
The face is long, moderately convex, with a distinct narrow longitudinal sulcation and somewhat faint transverse striations. Anterior femora armed beneath and near apex with three spines, the first, long an prominent, the others small.