A new species of Tibicen cicada, Tibicen neomexicensis, has been described by Brian J. Stucky.
Thanks to David Marshall for the tip.
Dedicated to cicadas, the most amazing insects in the world.
A new species of Tibicen cicada, Tibicen neomexicensis, has been described by Brian J. Stucky.
Thanks to David Marshall for the tip.
Just in time for Halloween… the Zammara a genus of cicadas with a collar like Dracula!
Andreas Kay has been posting photos of the insects of Ecuador on Flickr for around a year now. He’s posted many excellent cicada photos, particularly, photos of Zammara. They are among the most visually interesting cicadas.
Emerald Cicada, Zammara smaragdina:
Here’s an illustration from Insecta. Rhynchota. Hemiptera-Homoptera. Vol. I by W. L. Distant and The Rev Canon W. W. Fowler, F.L.S:
Here the Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadinae
Tribe: Zammarini
Genus: Zammara
Species: Zammara smaragdina Walker, 1850
Here’s an article about Collared cicadas of Mexico, Central & South America.
Cicadas are well known for the songs male cicadas make with their their tymbals, which are drum-like organs found in their abdomens.
Some female cicadas will also flick their wings to get the males attention. Watch this video where a male Magicicada is convinced that the snapping of fingers is a wing flick. Note: Magicicada males will also flick their wings once they become infected with the Massospora cicadina fungus (which removes their sex organs).
There is a third way some cicadas can make sounds. This method of creating a sound is unique to the Australian species Cyclochila australasiae (aka the Green Grocer and Masked Devil). These cicadas have stridulatory ridges on their pronotal collars (the collar shaped structure at the back of their head), and a stridulatory scraper on their fore wing.
From M. S. MOULDS, 2012, A review of the genera of Australian cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadoidea). Magnolia Press Auckland, New Zealand. p84:
Cyclochila is unique among the Cicadoidea in possessing a stridulatory file on the underside of the lateral angles of the pronotal collar that interacts with a scraper on the fore wing base (Fig. 132). Rubbed together these produce low audible sound in hand-held specimens (K. Hill, pers. comm.), the purpose of which is for sexual com- munication at close quarters (J. Kentwell and B. Fryz, pers. comm.)
Here is a photo of these structures:
The location of these structures is right about where the blue pin is in this photo:
Update:
Tim McNary of the Bibliography of the Cicadoidea website, let us know that Clidophleps cicadas are also able to create should using a stridulatory structure. Clidophleps is a genus of cicada that can be found in California, Nevada, Arizona, and I assume adjacent parts of Mexico. Clidophleps differs from Cyclochila in that the stridulatory structure is on its mesonotum, and not its pronotal collar.
Photo courtesy of Tim McNary:
I am excited about the 17 and 13 year cicada emergences expected in 2014.
Here is what we can look forward to:
I’m looking forward to taking some vacation time and tracking cicadas. Brood XXII is a good excuse to visit New Orleans (even if it isn’t on the cicada map).
Fun fact: Brood III and XXII won’t emerge in the same year again until the year 2235.
Australian singer/songwriter Laura Imbruglia sent us this photo of her cicada tattoo. Of course, we love it! And we love her music too.
2013 has been an awesome year for cicadas. Here’s a look back at my favorite Brood II moments.
I’m looking forward to the Brood III and XXII emergences next year, but I don’t know if they’ll be as fun as Brood II 2013.
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.
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.
Visit Tim McNary’s Bibliography of the Cicadoidea for many, many more cicada papers and articles.
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.
Author: Davis, William T. (William Thompson), 1862-1945; New York Entomological Society. Journal
North American Cicadas
File located on archive.org.
Author: Distant, William Lucas, 1845-1922
Cicadas of India, Southeast Asia and China
File located on archive.org.
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.
Author: C. L. Marlatt
Magicicada periodical cicadas
File located on archive.org.
Author: United States. Bureau of Entomology; Marlatt, C. L
Magicicada periodical cicadas
File located on archive.org.
Fieber, Franz Xaver, 1807-1872; Metcalf Collection (North Carolina State University). NCRS
Cicadas of Europe
File located on archive.org.
W. L. Distant and W. W. Fowler
Cicadas of Central and South America
File located on www.sil.si.edu.
Prof. Douglas Galvao of the State University of Campinas
Magicicada periodical cicadas
File located on cicadamania.com.
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.
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.
Amy Shaw shared a photo of her new photo-realistic cicada tattoo.
The tattoo artist is Dan Henk.
Cicadas of Thailand Volume 2: Taxonomy and Sonic Ethology by Michel Boulard is available now via Siri Scientific Press.
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: