Category: Locations

Locations where cicadas can be found, including countries and continents.

Categories
Australia Cyclochila

Masked Devil aka Cyclochila australasiae

Lozang Y. posted this image of a Masked Devil aka Cyclochila australasiae on our Facebook page. The photo was taken in the Blue Mountains, NSW, Australia.

Masked Devil

These cicadas are currently out and singing in the New South Wales area.

The green form of this cicada is called a Green Grocer, the yellow form is called a Yellow Monday, and the Blue Form is called the Blue Moon. The Cyclochila australasiae might have more color variations than even the Gaeana festiva of Southeast Asia.

More info about Cyclochila australasiae from L.W. Popple’s website.

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Books Michel Boulard Thailand

Cicadas of Thailand Volume 2: Taxonomy and Sonic Ethology by Michel Boulard

Cicadas of Thailand Volume 2: Taxonomy and Sonic Ethology by Michel Boulard is available now via Siri Scientific Press.

Cicadas of Thailand 2

A comprehensive 436 page volume from the leading world expert representing 13 years of work on taxonomy (including several newly described species) and sonic ethology, with supporting audio tracks

I ordered a copy already.

Cicadas of Thailand Volume 1 was a great resource for the cicadas of Thailand and South-East Asia in general (many Asian species are not endemic, so you’ll find them in many countries). I imagine that Volume 2 will be just as amazing.

Here’s his first book Cicadas of Thailand: General and Particular Characteristics. Volume 1:

The Cicadas of Thailand by Michel Boulard

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Australia Cyclochila Cystosoma David Emery Pauropsalta

Cicada Season has begun in Australia

David Emery wrote to let us know that cicada season has begun in parts of Australia:

After some 50mm of rain on 16-17 Sept and the warmest winter on record on the east coast, the “masked devil” morphs of Cyclochila australasiae were in good voice in the mountains west and south of Sydney, Australia on 22nd Sept. The bladder cicadas (Cystosoma saundersii) are also rattling in Metro Sydney. These are about 2 weeks early this year as are several of the smaller grass cicadas and Pauropsalta species. Roll on summer!

Cheers, David.

Masked Devil cicada (Cyclochila australasiae):
Masked Devil cicada (Cyclochila australasiae)

More information about Cyclochila australasiae.

Bladder cicadas (Cystosoma saundersii):
Bladder cicadas (Cystosoma saundersii)

More information about Cystosoma saundersii.

Bottle Cicada (Chlorocysta sp.):
Bottle Cicada

More information about Bottle cicadas.

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Canada Tibicen U.S.A. Video

August is a great time to look for Tibicen cicadas in North America

Now is a great time to look and listen for Tibicen cicadas in North America. Tibicen are the medium to large sized annual cicadas. Typically they are well camouflaged – with colors like black, white, green & brown.

During the day you can listen for them, of course, and spot them that way. Try Insect Singers for cicada songs. You can also look for their exuvia (skins), and if you’re lucky you can catch on on a low branch.

Last night I started looking around 10pm and found three Swamp Cicadas (T. tibicen tibicen) shedding their skins on trees around the yard. I also collected about 30 exuvia (skins). All in a quarter acre yard. Take a look at this video:

Swamp Cicada shedding its nymphal skin from Cicada Mania on Vimeo.

Swamp Cicada

Teneral Swamp Cicada

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India Macrosemia Raghu Ananth

Help identify these cicadas from India

Raghu Ananth sent us these photos of cicadas from India. If you can identify them, let use know.

UPDATE: David Emery provided use with these ID’s, in Order from Top to Bottom:

Macrosemia umbrata. Platypleura capitata, Platypleura sp and Pomponia linearis.
Macrosemia umbrata Cicada Found in Arunachal Pradesh, India by Raghu Ananth

Click the images for a larger version:

Cicada Found Near Mysore, India: Platypleura capitata
Platypleura capitata by Raghu Ananth, taken near Mysore, India:

Cicada Found in Kukke Subramanya: Platypleura sp

Cicada Found in Kukke Subramanya, Karnataka, India by Raghu Ananth

Cicada Found in Bhagamandala, Coorg, India: Pomponia linearis

Pomponia linearis Cicada Found in Bhagamandala, Coorg, India by Raghu Ananth

Cicada Found in Arunachal Pradesh_ India by Raghu Ananth
Cicada Found in Arunachal Pradesh_ India by Raghu Ananth 2

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Dundubia Malaysia Tacua

Some cicadas from Malaysia

Malaysia, like all south-east Asian countries, has a fantastic array of beautiful cicada species.

A world traveler sent us her recent cicada photos. Here are a sample:

An amazing Tacua speciosa aka Emperor Cicada:

Tacua speciosa (Illger, 1980) photos from Malaysia. The author of the image wishes to be anonymous.

Look at the size of it! Behold the beauty!

See all the Tacua speciosa photos.

And…

A severely injured but persevering Dundubia vaginata:

Dundubia vaginata (Fabricis, 1787) with a missing abdomen. The photo was taken in Malaysia. The photographer wishes to be anonymous.

It won’t ever mate again, but it will live for a little longer.

See all the Dundubia vaginata photos.

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Angamiana Tosena Vietnam

Cicadas from Vietnam

Updated as of 2/20/2014.

Martin Kolner sent us photos of two beautiful cicadas from Sapa Vietnam.

The first one belongs to the genus Angamiana, and I think it is an Angamiana floridula might be a Proretineta vermacula (Chou& Yao, 1985), according to David Emery.

An Angamiana from Sapa Vietnam photo by Martin Kolner

The second cicada belongs to the genus Tosena.

A Tosena species cicada from Sapa Vietnam photo by Martin Kolner

According to David, the Tosena is “likely to be T.fasciata (melanoptera does not have orange anywhere), even though the dorsal markings are pretty bleached”.

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Allen F. Sanborn Books Cacama Canada Cicadettana Diceroprocta Magicicada Okanagana Okanagodes Platypedia Polly K. Phillips Tibicen U.S.A.

Biogeography of the Cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) of North America, North of Mexico

Download the PDF here: www.cicadamania.com/downloads/diversity-05-00166.pdf.

We are excited to announce the availability of a document by Allen F. Sanborn and Polly K. Phillips titled Biogeography of the Cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) of North America, North of Mexico. This document features distribution maps for North American cicada species! This document is an excellent companion to The Cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadoidea: Cicadidae) of North America North of Mexico by Allen F. Sanborn and Maxine S. Heath (link to that book).

Abstract: We describe and illustrate the biogeography of the cicadas inhabiting continental North America, north of Mexico. Species distributions were determined through our collecting efforts as well as label data from more than 110 institutional collections. The status of subspecies is discussed with respect to their distributions. As we have shown over limited geographic areas, the distribution of individual species is related to the habitat in which they are found. We discuss the biogeography of the genera with respect to their phylogenetic relationships. California is the state with the greatest alpha diversity (89 species, 46.6% of taxa) and unique species (35 species, 18.3% of taxa). Texas, Arizona, Colorado and Utah are the states with the next greatest alpha diversity with Texas, Arizona and Utah being next for unique species diversity. Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode Island are the states with the least amount of cicada diversity. Diversity is greatest in states and areas where there is a diversity of plant communities and habitats within these communities. Mountainous terrain also coincides with increases in diversity. Several regions of the focus area require additional collection efforts to fill in the distributions of several species.
Keywords: cicada; distribution; Diceroprocta; Tibicen; Okanagana; Okanagodes; Cacama; Magicicada; Platypedia; Cicadetta

An example of a map from the document:

Example Map

Categories
Australia

Drymopsalta hobsoni, a newly identified cicada in Australia

Drymopsalta hobsoni is a newly identified cicada found in Australia.

Drymopsalta hobsoni sp. nov. is one of three new species of cicada described this year by Tony Ewart and Lindsay Popple.* Tony and Lindsay had participated in a QPWS fauna survey at Bringalily State Forest, near Inglewood in southern inland Queensland. When returning to the site subsequently for a follow-up cicada search, Tony located the new cicada.

Learn more and see photos of this cicada in Robert Ashdown’s article New summer singers.

Categories
Australia Tettigarcta

Tettigarcta tomentosa aka Tasmanian Hairy Cicada

There are two families of cicadas, Cicadidae (most cicadas) and Tettigarctidae (only two species). The two species in the Tettigarctidae family are Tettigarcta crinita, of southern Australia, and Tettigarcta tomentosa, of Tasmania. Cicadas of the family Tettigarctidae have ancestral morphology, similar to fossilized cicadas1. They are known for their hairy appearance.

Here are some morphological differences between the two cicada families:

family Tettigarcta Cicadidae
Tymbal (Makes the cicada’s noise) poorly developed in both sexes well developmed in males
Tympana (listening apparatus) no yes
Pronotum (covers the dorsal area of the thorax) expands over mesonotum ends at pronotal collar
Pronotal collar (separates pronotum from mesonotum) no yes
Cruciform elevation (an X-shaped structure on mesonotum) no yes

1See Allen F. Sanborn’s document Overview of Cicada Morphology for more information.

Here’s a photo of the Tettigarcta tomentosa from different angles (click the image for a closer view):

Tettigarctidae sp.

Tasmanian Hairy Cicada sightings on iNaturalist.