Cicada Mania

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August 22, 2010

Cicada Alphabet: G

G is for Greengrocer. The Greengrocer is the green morph of the Australian cicada Cyclochila australasiae. These cicadas can be found in south-eastern Australia. They have a large pronotal collar, and if you use your imagination, it looks like they’re wearing a tiny Pith helmet above their eyes.

Here’s a close of up of a Greengrocer (from Bron):
Green Grocer Cicada

Here’s a box of Greengrocers (from Kevin Lee):
Green Grocers

May 20, 2010

Anapsaltoda pulchra – Golden Emperors

David Emery emailed us this amazing photo of Anapsaltoda pulchra cicadas. Anapsaltoda pulchra are also known as Golden Emperors. These cicadas are from Herberton, Queensland, Australia.

Anapsaltoda pulchra - Golden Emperors

November 27, 2009

Cystosoma saundersii (bladder cicada)

Filed under: Australia,Bladder Cicada,Cystosoma,David Emery — Tags: — by @ 9:22 pm

David Emery send us a photo of a Cystosoma saundersii (bottle cicada) from Australia and we added it to the gallery.

Just to complement the Aussie cicadas, a small colony of these Cystosoma saundersii (bottle cicadas) have been droning and rattling at dusk around Burwoood in Sydney for the past 2 months. This is their southern-most extension down the east coast of Australia.
cheers,
David.

Click the link above or the image below to access large versions of the image.

Bottle Cicada

More information about Cystosoma saundersii on the CSIRO site.

The Bladder Cicada can be sound in eastern Queensland & NSW, and are most common Nov-Jan. (Moulds, M.S.. Australian Cicadas Kennsignton: New South Wales Press, 1990, p. 193.)

October 20, 2009

Australian Cicadas

Filed under: Australia — by @ 5:12 am

So it’s cicada time in Australia again — at least for the Green Grocers. Here’s every Australian cicada photo on the site:

  1. Orange Drummers (Thopha colorata) by Jodi.
  2. Double Drummer (Thopha saccata) by Kevin Lee.
  3. Emerging Double Drummers (Thopha saccata) by David Emery
  4. Another Double Drummer (Thopha saccata) by Kevin Lee.
  5. A Green Grocer (Cyclochila australasiae) by Kevin Lee.
  6. A box of Green Grocers (Cyclochila australasiae) by Kevin Lee.
  7. Green Grocer (Cyclochila australasiae) by Bron.
  8. A series of photos of a Green Grocer emerging into adulthood (Cyclochila australasiae) by George Dalidakis.
  9. rare green yellow Green Grocer (Cyclochila australasiae) by Kevin Lee.
  10. Top view of that rare green yellow Green Grocer (Cyclochila australasiae) by Kevin Lee.
  11. White Knight / Black Prince by Kevin Lee.
  12. Masked Devil cicada (Cyclochila australasiae) by David Emery.
  13. White Drummer cicada (Arunta perulata) by David Emery.
  14. Redeye cicada (Psaltoda moerens) by David Emery.
  15. Cherry Nose cicada (Macrotristria angularis) by David Emery.
  16. Blue Moon (Cyclochila australasiae) by David Emery (found by his daughter).
  17. Diemaniana euronotiana by David Emery.
  18. Bagpipe cicada (Lembeja paradoxa) was taken by Timothy Emery.
  19. A Floury Baker (Abricta curvicosta) by Michelle Thompson.

August 24, 2009

Pauropsalta mneme

Filed under: Australia,Pauropsalta — by @ 7:31 pm


Pauropsalta mneme, originally uploaded by dhobern.

Found this on Flickr. Is this the same species as the latest mystery cicada? Thanks to David Emery for the tip.

Can you help identify this Australian cicada (Pauropsalta mneme)?

Filed under: Australia,Identify,Pauropsalta — by @ 6:12 pm

Can you identify this Australian cicada??? The photo was take by Elizabeth Barnett.

mysterycicada

Hi, I wondered whether you can help me identify a cicada we saw at Hall’s Gap (Midwest Victoria, Australia) in January this year? It had a limited tolerance for being photographed and took off asap. From memory its call was a sort of short “eck! eck!” rather than the continuous shrill you get from a greengrocer. There were heaps of them calling but this was the only one we saw. I’d estimate it was about half the size of a greengrocer.

I asked David Emery, and he said:

Looks pretty close to Pauropsalta mneme (Alarm clock ticker) with the orange belly and wing infuscations and is in the right place! Heard the first C.celis around Sydney last week, but very dry at present.

After a Google search for Pauropsalta mneme I’d say David was correct.

The Pauropsalta mneme can be found in south-eastern NSW, Victoria, and a small pocket in South Australia, from late September to early January. (Moulds, M.S.. Australian Cicadas Kennsignton: New South Wales Press, 1990, p. 131.)

January 19, 2009

Bagpipe Cicada

Filed under: Australia,Bagpipe Cicada,David Emery,Lembeja — by @ 6:35 pm

This is a photo of the amazing Bagpipe cicada (Lembeja paradoxa) was taken by Timothy Emery (David Emery’s son).

Attached is a photo taken by my son, Timothy Emery from Thursday Island, Torres Strait off Cape York, Queensland. This a male “bagpipe cicada” (Lembeja paradoxa) singing for his female. These guys at rest look like dead leaves with wings folded under stems of grass, but when singing at dusk, rush up the stems and can expand their abdomens incredibly up to 5-10 x resting size (hence the bagpipe bit) and emit a very loud droning sound for their size. A great emergence of these on Thursday Island in the first 2 weeks of January.

Bagpipe Cicada

Here is a larger version.

The Bagpipe cicada can be found in the Northern tip of Queensland, from October to February, but they’re most common during January. (Moulds, M.S.. Australian Cicadas Kennsignton: New South Wales Press, 1990, p. 178)

January 15, 2009

Versatile Aggressive Mimicry of Cicadas by an Australian Predatory Katydid

Filed under: Australia,David Marshall,Kathy Hill — by @ 10:34 pm

David Marshall and Kathy Hill have discovered that a particular species of katydid mimics the wing-flick of female cicadas to lure male cicadas to their certain doom.

We have found that predatory Chlorobalius leucoviridis katydids (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) can attract male cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) by imitating the species-specific wing-flick replies of sexually receptive female cicadas. This aggressive mimicry is accomplished both acoustically, with tegminal clicks, and visually, with synchronized body jerks. Remarkably, the katydids respond effectively to a variety of complex, species-specific Cicadettini songs, including songs of many cicada species that the predator has never encountered.

Read the entire research article: Versatile Aggressive Mimicry of Cicadas by an Australian Predatory Katydid.

November 21, 2008

Australian Cicada Mania!

Filed under: Australia — Tags: , , — by @ 6:33 am

Australia should be knee deep in cicadas by now. Here’s a list of Australian cicada posts on the site.

  1. Bottle cicada
  2. Diemaniana euronotiana
  3. Orange Drummers
  4. More Orange Drummers
  5. Emerging Thopha
  6. Australian cicada information
  7. Masked Devil cicada
  8. White Drummer cicada
  9. Redeye cicada
  10. Cherry Nose cicada
  11. Blue Moon cicada
  12. Double Drummers and Green Grocers
  13. More Double Drumers and a yellow-green Green Grocer
  14. Another Green Grocer
  15. List of names of the cicadas of Australia
  16. Floury Baker
  17. A Green Grocer emerging

September 21, 2008

Bottle Cicada

Filed under: Australia,Bottle Cicada — by @ 1:30 pm


Profile of a Cicada, originally uploaded by Peppergroyne.

This is a Bottle Cicada from Australia.

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