There’s a new guidebook out for the cicadas of New Zealand. The book was produced by 10-year-old Olly Hills — proof that there are few age barriers to scientific interest and research.
Categories
T-Shirts & Merch:
A Zazzle store of cicada shirts, blankets and notebooks.
“Keep Calm, They’re Only 17-Year Cicadas” Shirts:
Cute Cicada Cartoon
Get it on a mug, shirt, or hat.
Classic Cicada Mania Logo
Get the classic logo on a mug, shirt, or hat.
Roy’s Magicicada septendecim
Get the Magicicada septendecim on a mug, shirt, pillow, or hat.
Classic Magicicada Illustration
Get the Magicicada septendecim on a mug, shirt, or hat.
Roy’s Blue Eyed cicada
Get it on a mug, shirt, pillow, or hat.
Australia’s Green Grocer cicada
Get Australia’s Green Grocer cicada on a mug, shirt, or hat.
Bug of Mystery
Get the Bug of Mystery on a mug or shirt.
Here are some gift ideas for humans. Skip to a section: T-shirts & mugs, cicada books, periodical cicada books.
Random cicada things
Insect Mesh Cage/Pavillion
When people ask me where should they put live cicadas, I recommend a Butterfly Pavilion. If it works for butterflies, it typically works for cicadas.
Cicada Books
Cicadas Strange and Wonderful by Laurence Pringle illustrated by Meryl Henderson
Cicadas Strange and Wonderful is non-fiction and well-illustrated. It’s meant for kids, but anyone who collects cicada merch should also get it.
Cicadas of North America: The Season of the Cicadas by Les Daniels.
I’ve known Les since the 1990s. In the early days of Cicada Mania, Les contributed many images to the site. The Season of the Cicadas is his book about North American cicadas and features many of his photos.
Cicadas of Australia: A photo guide to common cicadas of the Greater Sydney region by Nathan Emery.
Nathan Emery and his father David Emery, who has contributed many cicada photos to this site, are experts on the subject of the cicadas of Australia. A photo guide to common cicadas of the Greater Sydney region is Nathan’s field guide. It features a wealth of information and beautiful photos.
Periodical (17 & 13 Year) Cicada Books
A Tale of Two Broods: The 2024 Emergence of Periodical Cicada Broods XIII and XIX by Gene Kritsky
Dr. Gene Kritsky has devoted his life to studying and promoting periodical cicadas. A Tale of Two Broods: The 2024 Emergence of Periodical Cicada Broods XIII and XIX is his book for the two 2024 periodical cicada brood emergences.
Cicada: Exotic Views by Davy Shian.
Cicada: Exotic Views is a perennial classic about periodical cicadas. This book is illustrated with cartoons, like a comic book. It focuses on the diversity of reactions people have to periodical cicadas.
For Kids: Cecily Cicada
Cecily Cicada is an illustrated story about a cicada named Cecily, updated for 2020. Every 17 years the author asks me to promote it on CicadaMania.com. 🙂
Allen F. Sanborn and Maxine S. Heath have released the second edition of their book Cicadas of North American North of Mexico.
What’s new:
The second edition includes the addition of four new genera, the removal of two genera, and the addition of a few new species that were described since the first edition. We also added distributional data for all species.
Purchase a copy online from the Entomological Society of America.
While tweeting about my scientific in-laws, I can’t leave out mother-in-law Maxine Shoemaker Heath. The second edition of her “Big book of cicadas” was just published. It is full of photos & drawings of cicadas. Great stuff. @aaas @cicadamania pic.twitter.com/N6nqiu9UG7
— Michael E. Smith (@MichaelESmith) February 17, 2018
Related articles:
A new paper, A specialized fungal parasite (Massospora cicadina) hijacks the sexual signals of periodical cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae: Magicicada), has been published by John R. Cooley, David C. Marshall & Kathy B. R. Hill, in Scientific Reports 8, Article number: 1432 (2018).
In a nutshell: the fungus infects males and causes them to exactly mimic the mating behavior of female cicadas, thus infected males end up spreading the fungus to uninfected males.
Abstract:
Male periodical cicadas (Magicicada spp.) infected with conidiospore-producing (“Stage I”) infections of the entomopathogenic fungus Massospora cicadina exhibit precisely timed wing-flick signaling behavior normally seen only in sexually receptive female cicadas. Male wing-flicks attract copulation attempts from conspecific males in the chorus; close contact apparently spreads the infective conidiospores. In contrast, males with “Stage II” infections that produce resting spores that wait for the next cicada generation do not produce female-specific signals. We propose that these complex fungus-induced behavioral changes, which resemble apparently independently derived changes in other cicada-Massospora systems, represent a fungus “extended phenotype” that hijacks cicadas, turning them into vehicles for fungus transmission at the expense of the cicadas’ own interests.
And now, because I need an image for the post: a meme:
Cicadas, when infected, are called “salt shakers of doom”. Add that to the meme “Salt Bae”, and the image makes sense.
There is a new paper out about Brood XXII, titled Evolution and Geographic Extent of a Surprising Northern Disjunct Population of 13-Year Cicada Brood XXII (Hemiptera: Cicadidae, Magicicada). I helped with the field work for this paper, traveling through Ohio and Kentucky with Roy Troutman, recording the locations of periodical cicadas.
Brood XXII, a brood of Magicicada periodical cicadas with a 13-year lifecycle, exists in Louisiana & Mississippi, and Ohio & Kentucky with no geographic connection between them (the two groups are geographically isolated). The paper discusses the similarities and differences between the two groups.
You can read and download the paper for free.
Citation for the paper:
Gene Kritsky, Roy Troutman, Dan Mozgai, Chris Simon, Stephen M Chiswell, Satoshi Kakishima, Teiji Sota, Jin Yoshimura, John R Cooley; Evolution and Geographic Extent of a Surprising Northern Disjunct Population of 13-Year Cicada Brood XXII (Hemiptera: Cicadidae, Magicicada), American Entomologist, Volume 63, Issue 4, 12 December 2017, Pages E15—E20, https://doi.org/10.1093/ae/tmx066
Categories
Looking forward to 2018
At the start of 2018 Australia has been having an awesome cicada season, which should continue through to March, depending on the species and part of the country.
The best months of the cicada season in New Zealand are December – April.
Throughout the world, annual cicada emergences will follow their usual cycles.
Periodical Cicada Emergences
The World Cup Cicada, Chremistica ribhoi, will return after 4 years in Meghalaya, India.
Magicicada cicadas will return in 2018 in New York State after 17 years. Brood VII aka the Onondaga Brood can be found in the Finger Lakes area of New York.
Magicicada stragglers should also make an appearance in limited numbers.
- Brood XXII stragglers, emerging 4 years late, in mid-east Louisiana, south-west Mississippi, south-west Ohio and north-central Kentucky.
- Brood VIII stragglers, emerging 1 year early, in western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, and the West Virginia pan handle.
Categories
Cicada Papers of 2017
At almost 40 papers were published in 2017 about cicadas (maybe more)! If I had the time, I’d write a post about each one.
Here’s the list of papers I know about, including links to the papers. See the paper for authors and journal.
- Acoustic repertoire of the singing cicada Cicadetta cantilatrix Sueur et Puissant, 2007 (Homoptera, Cicadidae) from Russia. Link to the paper.
- Bacterial diversity of bacteriomes and organs of reproductive, digestive and excretory systems in two cicada species (Hemiptera: Cicadidae). Link to the paper.
- Caledopsalta gen. nov., a new genus for the New Caledonian cicadas previously assigned to Pauropsalta Goding & Froggatt, plus the description of four new species (Hemiptera: Cicadoidea: Cicadidae): Caledopsalta , a new genus of cicada. Link to the paper.
- Classificação Digital de Cicadidae com Wavelets e Support Vector Machines. Link to the paper.
- Comparative morphology of ovipositor in cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae), with considerations on their taxonomic significance. Link to the paper.
- Description of four new genera and five new species of cicadas from New Caledonia (Insecta: Hemiptera, Cicadoidea, Cicadidae). Link to the paper.
- Descriptions of four new species of Semia Matsumura (Hemiptera: Cicadidae: Psithyristriini) from Vietnam, with a key to the species of Semia. Link to the paper.
- Five new species of grass cicadas in the genus Graminitigrina (Hemiptera: Cicadidae: Cicadettinae: Cicadettini) from Queensland and Northern Territory, Australia: comparative morphology, songs, behaviour and distributions. Link to the paper.
- Generic redescription, seven new species and a key to the Taphura Stål, 1862 (Hemiptera: Cicadidae: Cicadetttinae: Taphurini). Link to the paper.
- Giant Cicada Emergence, Protandry and Chorus Centers Formation as Revealed by Studies Using a Sound Trap. Link to the paper.
- La cigale grise Cicada orni Linnaeus, 1758, une espèce récente dans le canton de Genève (Hemiptera, Cicadidae). Link to the paper.
- Morphological variation, genetic differentiation and phylogeography of the East Asia cicada Hyalessa maculaticollis (Hemiptera: Cicadidae): Phylogeography of H. maculaticollis. Link to the paper.
- Multiple origins of interdependent endosymbiotic complexes in a genus of cicadas. Link to the paper.
- A new cicada species of Psalmocharias Kirkaldy feeding on an Ephedra plant from China (Hemiptera: Cicadidae). Link to the paper…
- A new genus and new species of Cicadettini (Hemiptera: Cicadidae: Cicadettinae) from Pakistan. Link to the paper…
- A new genus for North American Cicadetta species (Hemiptera: Cicadidae). Link to the paper.
- A new Neotibicen cicada subspecies (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) from the southeastern USA forms hybrid zones with a widespread relative despite a divergent male calling song. Link to the paper.
- A New Species of Carineta Amyot & Audinet-Serville, 1843 (Hemiptera: Cicadoidea: Cicadidae) from Martinique. Link to the paper.
- A new species of Cicadatra Kolenati, 1857 from China, with primary phylogenetic analyses of the tribe Cicadatrini (Hemiptera: Cicadidae). Link to the paper.
- A new species of Megatibicen endemic to Mescalero-Monahans shinnery sands (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha: Cicadidae). Link to the paper.
- A new species of Platypleura Amyot & Audinet-Serville, 1843 (Hemiptera: Cicadidae: Cicadinae) from the Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh, India. Link to the paper.
- Popplepsalta aeroides Owen & Moulds (Hemiptera: Cicadidae): Description of the female. Link to the paper.
- Priority and synonymy of some North American cicada genera (Hemiptera: Cicadidae: Cicadinae: Cryptotympanini). Link to the paper.
- Quaternary vicariance of Platypleura (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) in Japan, Ryukyu, and Taiwan Islands. Link to the paper.
- Replacement name for the cicada genus Torresia Sanborn and Heath, 2014 (Hemiptera: Cicadidae: Tibicininae: Tettigadini) and two new combinations. Link to the paper.
- Resurrection of Auritibicen shikokuanus (Kato, 1959) stat. rev. & comb. nov. (Hemiptera: Cicadidae: Cryptotympanini) from Ehime and Hiroshima of Japan. Link to the paper.
- Review of the cicada genus Paharia Distant (Hemiptera, Cicadidae), with the description of a new species and its allied species. Link to the paper.
- A revision of the Ewartia oldfieldi (Distant) species complex (Hemiptera: Cicadidae: Cicadettinae) with five new species from eastern and northern Australia. Link to the paper.
- A revision of the Myopsalta crucifera (Ashton) species group (Hemiptera: Cicadidae: Cicadettini) with 14 new species from mainland Australia. Link to the paper.
- Revision and resurrection of the genus name Mezammira Fieber, 1876 (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) with special focus on its species from Greece and the description of two new species. Link to the paper.
- Seven new species of the cicada genus Guyalna Boulard & Martinelli, 1996 (Hemiptera: Cicadidae: Fidicinini) with a re-description of the type species . Link to the paper.
- The confounding effects of hybridization on phylogenetic estimation in the New Zealand cicada genus Kikihia. Link to the paper.
- The pregenital abdomen of Enicocephalomorpha and morphological evidence for different modes of communication at the dawn of heteropteran evolution. Link to the paper.
- Thermal adaptation in North American cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae). Link to the paper.
- A 3-Year Survey of Oklahoma Cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadoidea: Cicadidae) with New State Records. Link to the paper.
- Two new species of Clinopsalta Moulds (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) and additional distribution records for Clinopsalta adelaida (Ashton), with notes on their distinctive calling songs. Link to the paper.
Four new species of Semia cicadas living in Vietnam were described in 2017: Semia magna, Semia spiritus, Semia pallida, and Semia albusequi.
Here’s the details on the paper:
Title: Descriptions of four new species of Semia Matsumura (Hemiptera: Cicadidae: Psithyristriini) from Vietnam, with a key to the species of Semia
Authors: David Emery, Young June Lee, & Thai Pham.
Year: 2017
Publication: Zootaxa. 4216. 153-166.
Document link: https://biotaxa.org/Zootaxa/article/view/zootaxa.4216.2.2
Abstract:
This paper provides descriptions of four new species of the genus Semia Matsumura, 1917 from Vietnam: Semia magna sp. nov., Semia spiritus sp. nov., Semia pallida sp. nov., and Semia albusequi sp. nov. A key to the 13 species of Semia is provided.
Update: this cicada has a Leap-Year Brood (2024) as well as a World-Cup Brood (2026)! Both have 4-year year life cycle.
Chremistica ribhoi Hajong and Yaakop 2013 is a cicada that lives in the Ri-Boi district of India. C. ribhoi is known as the World Cup cicada because it emerges every four years in synch with the World Cup association football (soccer) tournament.
C. ribhoi is known locally as Niangtasar. It only lives in a very small area: Saiden village (25°51’37.1″N 91°51’16.3″E) and Lailad/Nongkhyllem Wildlife Sanctuary (25°55’09.7″N 91°46’25.0″E) situated on the northern part of the state of Meghalaya. The cicada can be identified by the presence of two white spots on either side of the anterior abdominal segment.
Researcher Sudhanya Hajong is gearing up to study these cicadas since this is the year they will emerge. Ri-Boi area locals use these cicadas as a food source and fish bait. These cicadas are threatened by deforestation (cutting down forests for agricultural purposes). Sudhanya plans to educate locals about conserving them and protecting their habitat.
Most of the facts in the post come from the following document: Hajong, S.R. 2013. Mass emergence of a cicada (Homoptera: Cicadidae) and its capture methods and consumption by villagers in ri-bhoi district of Meghalaya. Department of Zoology, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong – 793 022, Meghalaya, India.
Thanks to Chris Simon of The Simon Lab at UCONN for providing the information that made this post possible.
Note: the image in this article is not an accurate depiction of C. ribhoi. 🙂
There’s also a brood of C. ribhoi that emerges during Leap-years.
Cicada researcher Robert L. Sanders has written a paper documenting a 3-Year survey of Oklahoma cicadas. The paper is appropriately titled “A 3-Year Survey of Oklahoma Cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadoidea: Cicadidae) with New State Records” and was published in Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society, 89(4):315-337. Access it via this link.
The number of cicadas identified living in Oklahoma has been raised to 41. The previous number, as documented in the works of Allen F. Sanborn and Polly K. Phillips, was 341.
Here’s the abstract of Robert’s paper:
ABSTRACT: Between September of 2013 and September of 2016 an intermittent survey of the cicada diversity and distribution in Oklahoma was conducted. The results of this survey are presented here as a current updated annotated checklist. Seven species in four genera are newly recorded as resident in Oklahoma: Diceroprocta texana (Davis, 1916), Megatibicen figuratus (Walker, 1858), Neotibicen davisi harnedi (Davis, 1918), Neotibicen linnei (Smith & Grossbeck, 1907), Neotibicen robinsonianus (Davis, 1922), Okanagana viridis Davis, 1918, and Pacarina shoemakeri Sanborn and Heath, 2012. This brings the total number of species inhabiting the state to 41. Discussed are seven additional species possibly occurring in the state and Oklahoma’s cicada diversity.
1 Sanborn Allen F. Phillips, Polly K. (2014). Biogeography of the Cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) of North America, North of Mexico. Diversity 2013, 5, 166-239; doi:10.3390/d5020166