Dedicated to cicadas, the most amazing insects in the world.
It isn’t often we get a single cicada publication as complete and awesome as Cicadas of southern Africa: An illustrated guide to known species by R.D. Stephen. The document is 224 pages long and includes color photos of dozens of cicadas with maps & text descriptions. This guide covers cicadas from Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.
Thanks to beetledude in iNaturalist and David Emery for letting me know.
Tugelana butleri Distant, 1912, is found in South Africa.
Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadinae
Tribe: Platypleurini
Genus: Tugelana
Species: Tugelana butleri Distant, 1912
Tugelana genus description by W. L. Distant:
Characters. — Head short and broad, including eyes about as broad as base of mesonotum, between eyes three times as broad as long, ocelli farther apart from eyes than from each other, eyes obliquely directed backward; face a little longer than broad, very broadly longitudinally sulcate. lateral areas transversely striate ; pronotum almost as long as mesonotum, the lateral margins roundly ampliate, twice as broad at base as long, the fissures profound, anterior margin truncate, posterior margin very slightly sinuate at middle; abdomen in male about as long as space between the apex of head and base of cruciform elevation; tympana partly exposed, the coverings being a little shorter and considerably narrower inwardly; rostrum reaching the posterior cocÅ“; opercula in male scarcely extending beyond base of abdomen, not meeting inwardly, obliquely transverse, laterally and apically rounded; anterior femora incrassated, with two short but broad teeth at apex; tegmina more than twice as long as broad, opaque, basal cell slightly longer than broad, ulnar areas moderately elongate, apical areas eight, the uppermost long’and narrow; wings a little more than half the length of tegmina, apical areas six. This is one of the few Ethiopian genera belonging to the subfamily Gseaninas, and may be placed near the genus Hamza; like that genus, apart from the tympanal structural characters, it has a superficial resemblance to the genus Platypleura.
Kongota punctigera (Walker, 1850). Found in south-east Africa, specifically the nation of South Africa. Remarkable wing shape!
Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadinae
Tribe: Platypleurini
Genus: Kongota
Species: Kongota punctigera (Walker, 1850)
Kongota genus description by W. L. Distant:
Characters. — Head (including eyes) about as wide as base of mesonotum, anteriorly subtruncate, deflected in front of eyes ; pronotum transverse, its posterior margin about half the length of its vertex, the lateral margins ampliately and subangulately produced, their apices extending to about the base of basal cell of tegmina; mesonotum about as long as pronotum; anterior femora basally and subapically tuberculously spinous; posterior tibiae with a few spines on apical area; metasternum elevated and centrally sulcate; tympanal coverings moderate in size; opercula short and broad, their apices more or less convexly rounded; rostrum reaching the posterior coxae; tegmina with the costal membrane much arched at base and dilated, broader than the costal area, basal cell very broad; ulnar veins widely separated at their bases.
There are three subspecies of Munza laticlavia: M. laticlavia laticlavia (Stål, 1858), M. laticlavia lubberti Schumacher, 1913 and M. laticlavia semitransparens Schumacher, 1913. It is found in southern Africa, including the countries South Africa & Nambia. Perhaps Kenya too.
Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadinae
Tribe: Platypleurini
Genus: Munza
Species: Munza laticlavia
Subspecies: M. laticlavia laticlavia (Stål, 1858)
Subspecies: M. laticlavia lubberti Schumacher, 1913
Subspecies: M. laticlavia semitransparens Schumacher, 1913
Not sure which subspecies appears in this photo:
Munza genus description by W. L. Distant:
Characters. — Head (including eyes) a little wider than base of mesonotum, subtruncate and deflected in front of eyes; pronotum transverse, about as long as mesonotum, its posterior margin a little more than half the length of its vertex, its lateral margins dilated and a little angulated, but not reaching the basal cell of tegmina; anterior femora not spined ; posterior tibiae longly spined on their apical halves; metasternum a little elevated and centrally sulcate; tympanal coverings somewhat small ; opercula short, broad, their lateral and posterior margins a little oblique and sinuate ; rostrum reaching the posterior coxae ; tegmina with the basal cell broadened apically ; wings with the outer and posterior membrane Very broad, about one third their length.
Thanks to David Emery for sending this photo of the amazing Quintilia aurora (Walker, 1850) cicada which can be found in the Republic of South Africa.
Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadettinae
Tribe: Parnisini
Genus: Quintilia
Species: Quintilia aurora (Walker, 1850)