Dedicated to cicadas, the most amazing insects in the world.
Psaltoda plaga aka Black Prince photo by Kevin Lee.
Amongst young Aussie kids the legendary White Knight is believed to exist but it is really just a black prince. When cicadas such as double drummers and black princes first emerge they appear white and gradually they develop their distinctive pigmentation. This is the before and after shots of the same cicada.
Kevin Lee’s Green Grocer (Cyclochila australasiae) photos:
This one is somewhere between a Green Grocer and a Yellow Monday, I think. Check out the “mask” between the eyes:
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.
G is for Greengrocer. The Greengrocer is the green morph of the Australian cicada Cyclochila australasiae. These cicadas can be found in south-eastern Australia. They have a large pronotal collar, and if you use your imagination, it looks like they’re wearing a tiny Pith helmet above their eyes.
Here’s a close of up of a Greengrocer (from Bron):
Here’s a box of Greengrocers (from Kevin Lee):
Double Drummer (Thopha saccata) photos by Kevin Lee:
This is a double drummer who got stuck whilst emerging so he never got to fly and sing.. but he still saw the light of day and was in the room with the other cicadas and had a bit of company. But if I had left it on the tree he would have been eaten alive by ants.
I’m happy to announce that we received our first Australian cicada photos of this season!!! The photos were taken by Kevin Lee, Australia’s biggest cicada maniac.
According to Kevin:
This is the season for cicadas and this year they are more proliferating that usual. Some would call it a plague but I love it.
The birds (kookaburras and magpies) are having a feast!
Double Drummer (Thopha saccata):
The Double Drummer can be found in parts of eastern Queensland and Eastern NSW, from November to early March. (Moulds, M.S.. Australian Cicadas Kennsignton: New South Wales Press, 1990, p.55)
rare green yellow Green Grocer (Cyclochila australasiae) and others:
rare green yellow Green Grocer:
Cyclochila australasiae can be found in eastern Queensland, NSW and Victoria, and most emerge in October and November (Moulds, M.S.. Australian Cicadas Kennsignton: New South Wales Press, 1990, p. 61.).