Category: Lembeja

Lembeja paradoxa (Karsch, 1890)

Post author By Dan
Post date March 9, 2019

Lembeja paradoxa is a cicada found in Australia. It is also known as the Bagpipe Cicada, because it looks like the musical instrument called bagpipes.

Photo by Timothy Emery from Thursday Island, Torres Strait off Cape York, Queensland:
Lembeja paradoxa (Karsch, 1890)

Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadettinae
Tribe: Prasiini
SubTribe: Prasiina
Genus: Lembeja
Species: Lembeja paradoxa (Karsch, 1890)

For more information about this cicada, visit A web guide to the cicadas of Australia by L. W. Popple.

Indonesia Lembeja

Orange-speckled green cicada (Lembeja sp nov)

Post author By Dan
Post date January 20, 2013
2 Comments on Orange-speckled green cicada (Lembeja sp nov)

Orange-speckled green cicada (Lembeja sp nov), originally uploaded by artour_a.

A pretty green speckled cicada from North Sulawesi, Indonesia.

If you can identify the species, let us know.

Australia David Emery Lembeja

Bagpipe Cicada

This is a photo of the amazing Bagpipe cicada (Lembeja paradoxa) was taken by Timothy Emery (David Emery’s son).

Attached is a photo taken by my son, Timothy Emery from Thursday Island, Torres Strait off Cape York, Queensland. This a male “bagpipe cicada” (Lembeja paradoxa) singing for his female. These guys at rest look like dead leaves with wings folded under stems of grass, but when singing at dusk, rush up the stems and can expand their abdomens incredibly up to 5-10 x resting size (hence the bagpipe bit) and emit a very loud droning sound for their size. A great emergence of these on Thursday Island in the first 2 weeks of January.

Lembeja paradoxa (Karsch, 1890)

The Bagpipe cicada can be found in the Northern tip of Queensland, from October to February, but they’re most common during January. (Moulds, M.S.. Australian Cicadas Kennsignton: New South Wales Press, 1990, p. 178)