Dedicated to cicadas, the most amazing insects in the world.
Fidicina mannifera mannifera is a cicada found in Brazil specifically, as well as South and Central America.
Photo by Leonardo Milhomem:
Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadinae
Tribe: Fidicinini
SubTribe: Fidicinina
Genus: Fidicina
Species: Fidicina mannifera mannifera (Fabricius, 1803)
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
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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)
Dorisiana semilata (Walker, 1850) is a cicada found in Costa Rica, St. Lucia, Guiana, French Guiana, Trinidad, and Brazil.
Dorisiana semilata was formerly known as Fidicina semilata. Its name changed when it moved from the Fidicina Amyot & Audinet-Serville, 1843 genus to the Dorisiana Metcalf, 1952 genus.
Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadinae
Tribe: Fidicinini
SubTribe: Guyalnina
Genus: Dorisiana
Species: Dorisiana semilata (Walker, 1850)
The image might say Fidicina semilata, but the newest name of this cicada is Dorisiana semilata.
Fidicinoides pronoe (Walker, 1850) is a cicada found in Mexico, Guatemala, Panama, Costa Rico, Columbia, and Brazil.
Fidicinoides pronoe was formerly known as Fidicina pronoe. 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 pronoe (Walker, 1850)
The image says Fidicina pronoe, but the newest name of this cicada is Fidicinoides pronoe.
Fidicinoides picea (Walker, 1850) is a cicada from Mexico, Venuzuala, Guyana, and Suriname.
Fidicinoides picea was formerly known as Fidicina picea. 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 picea (Walker, 1850)
The image says Fidicina picea, but the newest name of this cicada is Fidicinoides picea.
Zammara brevis (Distant, 1905) is a cicada found in Columbia.
It was formerly known as Orellana brevis, as you can see from the image below. The Zammara and Orellana genera are very similar — both belong to the tribe Zammarini, both share pronounced pronotal collars and often green coloring.
Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadinae
Tribe: Zammarini
Genus: Zammara
Species: Zammara brevis (Distant, 1905)
The image says Orellana brevis, but the newest name of this cicada is Zammara brevis.
Zammara genus description by W. L. Distant from Genera Insectorum, 1914:
Characters. — Head (including eyes) about as wide as base of mesonotum, ocelli farther removed from eyes than from each other, eyes prominent but scarcely projecting beyond the anterior pronotal angles, vertex strongly depressed before base of front; face longer than broad, narrowly sulcate; pronotum shorter than mesonotum, the lateral margins angularly ampliate; mesonotum about as long as head and pronotum together; metanotum exposed; abdomen short; tympanal coverings outwardly complete, the orifices very widely exposed internally; opercula short, oblique; rostrum reaching or slightly passing the posterior coxae; tegmina usually three times as long as broad, apical areas eight; wings with six apical areas.
Tympanoterpes cordubensis Berg, 1884 is a cicada found in Argentina.
Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadinae
Tribe: Fidicinini
SubTribe: Guyalnina
Genus: Tympanoterpes
Species: Tympanoterpes cordubensis Berg, 1884
Tympanoterpes genus description by W. L. Distant:
Characters. — Head (including eyes) about equal in width to base of mesonotum, eyes scarcely projecting beyond anterior angles of pronotum, vertex of head at area of ocelli often only very slightly longer than front ; pronotum shorter than mesonotum, the posterior angles a little prominent but not lobately produced; abdomen about as long as space between apex of head and base of cruciform elevation; metasternum with a moderately elevated transverse central plate, which is not anteriorly angularly produced; tegmina usually less than about three times as long as broad, the transverse vein at base of second apical area strongly oblique ; wings about half the length of tegmina which have eight apical areas and the basal cell longer than broad.
Majeorona bovilla Distant, 1905 is a cicada found in Brazil.
Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadinae
Tribe: Fidicinini
SubTribe: Guyalnina
Genus: Majeorona
Species: Majeorona bovilla Distant, 1905
Majeorona genus description by W. L. Distant:
Characters. — Head (including eyes) considerably broader than base of mesonotum, eves porrect, more or less stylate, length of head about equal to half its breadth between eyes, and distinctly shorter than pronotum which is about equal in length to mesonotum; abdomen a little shorter than space between apex of head and base of cruciform elevation, tympanal coverings in male with their inner margins strongly concave; metasternal plate well developed, centrally longitudinally impressed and anteriorly produced on each side; rostrum reaching the posterior coxae; anterior femora strongly spined beneath; opercula in male small, transverse, not extending beyond base of abdomen, tegmina about two and a half times as long as broad, with eight apical areas and the basal cell about as long as broad.