Category: Papers and Documents

Categories
Books Japan

Some cicada books from Japan

Every now and then I treat myself to a cicada book from Japan. Cicadas are called semi in Japan, which seems to be spelled セミ or 蝉. Enter セミ or 蝉 into the Amazon.co.jp search box and you’ll find a bunch of cicada books (amongst other things).

I’ve already written about Dr. M. Haysashi and Dr. Yasumasa Saisho‘s fantastic The Cicadidae of Japan book. Here are some others:

セミ観察記 (写真絵本 ぼくの庭にきた虫たち):

This book features huge photos of cicadas through all phases of their lives. It also features diagrams of their lifecycle and underground tunnels.

A Cicada Book from Japan
セミ・カメムシの仲間 (海野和男のワクワク虫図鑑):

Only the first eleven pages of this book are about cicadas, but they are excellent, featuring large photos of common cicadas. The book features two pages that match nymph exoskeletons to adult cicadas.

And Another Cicada Book from Japan

セミの一生 (科学のアルバム):

This book also features many large photos of cicadas throughout their life cycle. The photos of eggs and first instar nymphs are particularly nice.

Another Cicada Book from Japan

Note that these books are not written in English.

Categories
Papers and Documents

General Cicada Information Websites

Updated on 8/18/2024. Most cicada websites get bought by pesticide services, so I had to remove those.

  1. The Insect Images site has many cicada images.
  2. American Museum of Natural History Invertebrate Zoology Type Specimens.
  3. ITIS has massive listings of cicada species names with mentions of papers that mention the cicadas. Invaluable resource.
  4. What’s that Bug (whatsthatbug.com) Another insect identification site, but this one has an international focus. Many cicada photos. PHOTOS.
  5. Dave’s Garden: Order: Homoptera, Family: Cicadidae (davesgarden.com) About 13 cicada photos from around the world. PHOTOS
  6. Flickr has over 119,000 cicada photos (updated 8/18/20240. PHOTOS
Categories
Papers and Documents

Cicada Papers and Documents, PDFs and Images

Visit Tim McNary’s Bibliography of the Cicadoidea for many, many more cicada papers and articles.

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

Author: Allen F. Sanborn 1, and Polly K. Phillips (2013)

North American Cicadas. Features maps. “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.”

File located on cicadamania.com.

North American cicadas (1921)

Author: Davis, William T. (William Thompson), 1862-1945; New York Entomological Society. Journal

North American Cicadas

File located on archive.org.

A monograph of oriental cicadidae (1892)

Author: Distant, William Lucas, 1845-1922

Cicadas of India, Southeast Asia and China

File located on archive.org.

Centre for Entomological Studies Ankara, Cesa News Nr. 55 (January 30, 2010)

Cicadidae of Turkey and some ecological notes on Tibicina serhadensis Kocak & Kemal from Van Province (East Turkey) (Homoptera) — Author: Muhabbet Kemal, Ahmet Omer Kocak, Vildan Bozaci

Cicadas of Turkey

File located on archive.org.

The Periodical Cicada (1907)

Author: C. L. Marlatt

Magicicada periodical cicadas

File located on archive.org.

The periodical cicada in 1914 (1914)

Author: United States. Bureau of Entomology; Marlatt, C. L

Magicicada periodical cicadas

File located on archive.org.

Les Cicadines d’Europe : d’après les originaux et les plus récentes (1875)

Fieber, Franz Xaver, 1807-1872; Metcalf Collection (North Carolina State University). NCRS

Cicadas of Europe

File located on archive.org.

Insecta. Rhynchota. Hemiptera-Homoptera. Volume I (1881-1905)

W. L. Distant and W. W. Fowler

Cicadas of Central and South America

File located on www.sil.si.edu.

Emergence of Prime Numbers as the Result of Evolutionary Strategy (PDF)

Prof. Douglas Galvao of the State University of Campinas

Magicicada periodical cicadas

File located on cicadamania.com.

Genera of American cicadas north of Mexico (1978)

Author: Heath, Maxine Shoemaker

Genera of American cicadas north of Mexico. Note a more recent book (scroll up) has been published in 2013.

File located on archive.org.

Dictionnaire universel d’histoire naturelle: atlas (1861)

Author: Orbigny, Charles Dessalines d’, 1806-1876; Metcalf Collection (North Carolina State University). NCRS

Contains a few cicada illustrations including a Tacua sp.

File located on archive.org.

Categories
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

Categories
Books Brood II David Rothenberg John Cooley Music

David Rothenberg, John Cooley and the New York Times

It isn’t often that cicada celebrities show up on your Mother’s lawn, but when you have a healthy supply of easily catchable singing M. septendecim, and a cicada website, these things happen.

Last Saturday I met up with cicada researcher John Cooley, Japanese cicada researcher Jim Yoshimura, and musician and professor David Rothenberg at Roosevelt Park in Edison NJ. They were looking for male cicadas to perform with David at a World Science Festival event in the Bronx later that night. New York Times reporter Stephen Farrell was also there to interview David and John, and artist Asher Jay was there to lend David support.

The cicadas in the park weren’t performing well enough, so I directed them to my Mom’s place in Metuchen.

The Metuchen location yielded many screaming cicadas. David collaborated with the cicadas on the spot with his Ani-Moog iPad app, and a clarinet. John Cooley dropped some cicada science for Stephen Farrell’s video camera as well. My Mom served refreshments. Once enough cicadas were collected, the cicada celebrities departed — before leaving David left my Mom an autographed book and CD. Very cool!

John Cooley & David Rothenberg
A beautiful day for enjoying the song of cicadas in the suburbs of New Jersey.

More from David Rothenberg:

David Rothenberg plays Animoog on iPad live with cicadas:

More about David Rothenberg:

Man composes music with cicadas (news story with a video).

Cicada Mania: A 17-Year Benchmark on PBS (BTW, nice name for a TV PBS):

More from John Cooley:

BBC’s The Code:

Here’s a photo of David Rothenberg’s book Bug Music: How Insects Gave Us Rhythm and Noise. It is available on Amazon.com.

Bug Music How Insects Gave Us Rhythm and Noise by David Rothenberg

Categories
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
Books Michel Boulard Thailand

The Cicadas of Thailand, Vol.2. Coming Soon?

It looks like there’s a new The Cicadas of Thailand book out (or coming out soon).

ISBN 978-974-480-165-4
WL Order Code 22 645
Bangkok 2011
Boulard, Michel; The Cicadas of Thailand, Vol.2. Taxonomy and Sonic Ethology
White Lotus Press

Looks like it will be for sale here.

Cicadas of Thailand 2

Categories
Oriental Cicadidae Tosena Tosenini W. L. Distant

Tosena Cicadas

Tosena is a genus of cicadas that can be found in the Indo-Malaya ecozone, which includes the Indian subcontinent, Southeastern Asia and southern China. Tosena cicadas have colorful wings, which rival the beauty of butterfly wings. Tosena are easily obtainable online from stores that sell insects, or ebay. The Tosena genus was first identified by Charles Jean-Baptiste Amyot & Jean Guillaume Audinet-Serville in 1843.

From A Monograph of Oriental Cicadidae by W. L. Distant:

Tosena is one of the most conspicuous genera of the Cicadidae, and its species are all included in this fauna. The north-eastern districts of Continental India are its head-quarters, for here are focused some of the largest and handsomest of its species ; it is also well represented in Burma, and from thence its distribution is extended throughout the Malay Peninsula to the south, and apparently northward as far as some portions of China. In the Malayan Archipelago it is not uncommon in Sumatra, Java, and Borneo, and as I have seen representatives from Amboyna, it probably exists in other intervening islands, of which, however, we have at present no precise information.

Different types of Tosena:

Tosena albata:

Tosena albata
Photo by Michel Chantraine.

Photos of live T. albata.

Distinguishing features: Mustard colored pronotal collar, orange abdomen with a series of two black circular spots, and dark brown wings with one white stripe on each fore wing.

Habitat: Southeast Asia.

Tosena depicta:

Tosena depicta
Illustration from A Monograph of Oriental Cicadidae by W. L. Distant.

Photos of living T. depicta.

Distinguishing features: A vibrant green pronotal collar; an orange abdomen with a series of black markings; wings are dark brown to black, with the one white stripe on each fore wing, and a white anal lobe on each hind wing.

Phantastic songs of the S.E. Asian cicadas! website has an MP3 of a T. depicta singing.

Habitat: Southeast Asia.

Tosena fasciata

Tosena fasciata by Álvaro Lisón Gómez
Tosena fasciata by Álvaro Lisón Gómez Creative Commons License.

Photo of a live T. fasciata.

Distinguishing features: A pale orange pronotal collar; brown wings with one white stripe on each fore wing; an orange abdomen with one black spot; the the anal lobe of the hind wing appears lighter in color than the rest of the hind wing.

Habitat: Southeast Asia.

Tosena mearesiana

No photos.

Distinguishing features: See A Monograph of Oriental Cicadidae by W. L. Distant

Habitat: India.

Tosena melanoptera

Photos of a live T. melanoptera.

Distinguishing features: Red eyes; white pronotal collar; pale brown stripe on dark brown fore wings.

Habitat: India & Southeast Asia.

Tosena monitvaga

No photos.

Distinguishing features: See A Monograph of Oriental Cicadidae by W. L. Distant

Habitat: India.

Sources to learn more about Tosena cicadas:

  • The Book Cicadas of Thailand: General and Particular Characteristics. Volume 1 by Michel Boulard. This book mentions Tosena, in particular, many times, and in general it does an excellent job of discussing the anatomy, behavior and habitat of cicadas found in Thailand.
  • A Monograph of Oriental Cicadidae by W. L. Distant. (1889, Published by the Order of the Trustees of the Indian Museum of Calcutta).
  • Rhynchota: Heteroptera-Homopetera ( Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma ) by W. L. Distant (1906)
  • The Cicadas of India Facebook page
Categories
Books Japan

The Cicadidae of Japan. Cicada book of the year?

It’s too early to say, but The Cicadidae of Japan might end up being the cicada book of the year. The book was authored by Dr. M. Haysashi and Dr. Yasumasa Saisho (of the incredible Cicadidae of Japan website), and it includes photos and a CD of cicada song.

The book is currently available from Amazon.co.jp.

Information from Dr. Yasumasa Saisho:

Hello. I inform you that “The Cicadidae of Japan” by Dr. M.Hayashi and
myself is published. This book consists of taxonomic exposition, ecological
information, distribution, acoustic attribute of calling songs,
morphological features of Japanese cicadidae with many photos and CD
(including all songs of Japanese species, about 70min).

———-
M. Hayashi and Y. Saisho (2011). The Cicadidae of Japan,
224 pp., Seibundo-shinkosha, Tokyo.
ISBN978-4-416-81114-6
4,600yen

M. Hayashi and Y. Saisho (2011). The Cicadidae of Japan

Categories
Books Pop Culture

Greek Entomythology by Artemis Ippotis

Here’s something fun for fans of entomology, Greek mythology and creativity: Greek Entomythology by Artemis Ippotis. Artemis (Diana Knight) has created a fun and whimsical book that tells Greek myths using photos of insects. The book is truly one of a kind! Artemis is also planing on offering the book as an iPad/iPhone app.

If you’re interesting in obtaining the book, write Diana at:

Diana Knight
The Manor,
Barton Mills,
Suffolk IP 28 6BL
UK

The book features some of my Tibicen photos. I laughed out loud when I saw the Tibicen playing a lyre.

Greek Entomythology by Artemis Ippotis

New, here’s a video promo for the book: