Dedicated to cicadas, the most amazing insects in the world.
Orange Drummer (Thopha colorata) photos by Jodi from 2007. Australia.
Text for the photos from back in 2007: “Thanks to Jodi for allowing us to post some of her Orange Drummer (Thopha colorata) photos. Two today, two tomorrow! Apparently they’re hatching in droves in Central Australia.”
A molting Orange Drummer (Thopha colorata):
Orange Drummer (Thopha colorata):
Teneral, recently molted Orange Drummer (Thopha colorata):
Teneral, recently molted Orange Drummer (Thopha colorata):
Thopha saccata is a cicada found in Australia. It is also known as the Eastern Double Drummer.
Photo by Dan Mozgai:
Photo by Kevin Lee:
Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadinae
Tribe: Thophini
Genus: Thopha
Species: Thopha saccata (Fabricius, 1803)
For more information about this cicada, visit A web guide to the cicadas of Australia by L. W. Popple.
Thopha colorata is a cicada found in Australia. It is also known as the Orange Drummer and W Bug because of the W on its back (mesonotum) (thanks David Emery).
Photo by Jodi:
A gallery of more of Jodi’s photos.
Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadinae
Tribe: Thophini
Genus: Thopha
Species: Thopha colorata Distant, 1907
For more information about this cicada, visit A web guide toThe cicadas of Australia by L. W. Popple.
Thopha sessiliba is a cicada found in Australia. It is also known as the Northern Double Drummer.
Photo by Kees Green:
Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadinae
Tribe: Thophini
Genus: Thopha
Species: Thopha sessiliba Distant, 1892
For more information about this cicada, visit A web guide toThe cicadas of Australia by L. W. Popple.
Thopha sessiliba Distant, 1892 is found in northern Austalia and is commonly known as the Northern Double Drummer. Like other members of the Thophini tribe, T. sessiliba has prominent sack-like tymbal covers, from which they get their common name “drummers”.
Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadinae
Tribe: Thophini
Genus: Thopha
Species: Thopha sessiliba Distant, 1892
Thopha genus description by W. L. Distant:
Characters. — Head short, broad, equal in width to apex of pronotum; eyes more or less pedunculated, prominent; ocelli four times more distant from eyes than from each other; apex of clavus acuminate; front destitute of a longitudinal sulcus; pronotum with the lateral margins almost truncate or slightly convex, widened forwardly; tegmina vitreous, basal area not twice longer than broad, interior ulnar area broadened towards apex; ulnar veins distant at base; wings vitreous, with six apical areas; opercula short, transverse; tympanal coverings very strongly developed and sac-like, projecting beyond the lateral abdominal margins in male.
Arunta perulata (Guérin-Méneville, 1831). Found in Australia. Known as a White Drummer. Like other members of the tribe Thophini, like Thopha colorata (Orange Drummer) and Thopha saccata (Double Drummer), they have massive sac-like tymbal covers, which is why they’re called drummers.
Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadinae
Tribe: Thophini
Genus: Arunta
Species: Arunta perulata (Guérin-Méneville, 1831)
Photo by David Emery.
Arunta genus description by W. L. Distant:
Characters. — Head transverse, moderately truncate in front of eyes, between eyes much narrower than base of mesonotum ; rostrum reaching the posterior coxae; pronotum moderate broad, its breadth considerably less than length of both pro- and mesonotum (including the basal cruciform elevation); tympana very largely developed and sac-like, their apices obliquely extending beyond the lateral margins of the abdomen and to about half its length; opercula very small, not extending to base of metasternum, placed wide apart, and with their apical margins convex; anterior femora incrassated and spined ; posterior tibiae with a few lateral fine spines; tegmina and wings talc-like, tegmina with eight apical areas.