D is for Dog-Day Cicada. The Tibicen canicularis, aka Dog-Day Cicada, is thought to be known as the Dog-Day Cicada because they are most active during the “dog days of summer”, which are the days when the star Sirius is visible in the Northern Hemishphere (July 3-August 11)1. Canicularis is derived from the Latin word canis, which means dog. Tibicen davisi is known as the Southern Dog-Day Cicada. Folks use the term “Dog-Day Cicada” for other species of Tibicen as well, but the T. canicularis the true Dog-Day Cicada.
Image of a T. canicularis (on the left) and T. davisi by Paul Krombholz:
Diceroprocta is a genus of cicadas that exist in North America.
- The green and black Diceroprocta vitripennis
- The green, brown and black Diceroprocta olympusa
- The black, cream and white colored Diceroprocta apache, which are well know to residents of Arizona where they hang out on Oleander trees.
Diemeniana euronotiana is a pretty black, orange and red cicada that exists in south-eastern coastal area of Australia2. See a photo of a Diemeniana euronotiana.
The Double Drummer aka Thopha saccata is an Australian cicada. It exists on the east coast of Australia and prefers eucalyptus trees2. The Double Drummer is a large cicada, as you can see from this photo.
Dundubia is a genus of cicada that exists in Asia. See a photo of a disected Dundbia on Cicada Mania, or photos of several species on the Cicadas from Thailand website.
- Dog Days http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/dog%20days
- Australian Cicadas by M.S. Moulds.
One thing to keep in mind – in the photo of canicularis/davisi, the canicularis is a male and the davisi a female, so one has to keep in mind that the shape differences are largely due to the sex. Some specimens of the two can be tough to distinguish.
(And I just noticed that Diemeniana is spelled incorrectly. Someday we’ll
Thanks for the post, Dan.
Comment by Dave — August 12, 2010 @ 1:21 pm
Spelling fixed. I spelled it with mania in the middle — go figure.
Comment by Dan — August 12, 2010 @ 3:33 pm
I don’t know if any of these cicada’s are found in Nashville, but we’ve had a good-sized emergence of black, green, and white colored in my neighborhood. Much more than I can recall in previous years. They call in the early morning and late afternoon.
Comment by Casbah — August 14, 2010 @ 5:16 pm