Cicada Mania: Australia: Page 2

October 20, 2009

Australian Cicadas

Filed under: Australia — by Dan Mozgai @ 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:

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

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August 24, 2009

Pauropsalta mneme

Filed under: Australia,Pauropsalta — by Dan Mozgai @ 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.

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

Filed under: Australia,Indentify,Pauropsalta — by Dan Mozgai @ 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.)

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January 19, 2009

Bagpipe Cicada

Filed under: Australia,Bagpipe Cicada,David Emery,Lembeja — by Dan Mozgai @ 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.

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)

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January 15, 2009

Versatile Aggressive Mimicry of Cicadas by an Australian Predatory Katydid

Filed under: Australia — by Dan Mozgai @ 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.

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November 21, 2008

Australian Cicada Mania!

Filed under: Australia — Tags: Australia, Australian, Cicadas Misc. — by Dan Mozgai @ 6:33 am

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

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September 21, 2008

Bottle Cicada

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

Profile of a Cicada, originally uploaded by Peppergroyne.

This is a Bottle Cicada from Australia.

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December 29, 2007

Noisy Australian cicadas more annoying that American cicadas

Filed under: Australia — by Dan Mozgai @ 11:16 am

After watching this news report (nine national news), it seems possible that Australian cicadas might be more annoying than American cicadas — annoying according to the ear of the beholder of course — I think they’re awesome.

The big difference between Australian cicadas and American cicadas is the loud & abundant American Magaicicada periodical cicadas only come around every 17 or 13 years, and annual species of American cicadas are loud but they aren’t found in large numbers or groups (aggregations). In Australia certain species of cicadas are noisy and abundant every year.

Here’s a text news article as well: Cicada buzz destroys beachside bliss.

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December 20, 2007

Diemaniana euronotiana

Filed under: Australia,David Emery,Diemaniana — by Dan Mozgai @ 9:17 pm

Here’s yet another wonderful cicada photo from David Emery in Australia: the Diemaniana euronotiana. The cicada is a mere 20mm in length, and they are now just out in the bushland around 1000m.

The Diemaniana euronotiana can be found in eastern NSW, south-eastern Victoria and Tasmania. They are most common in late November to January. (Moulds, M.S.. Australian Cicadas Kennsignton: New South Wales Press, 1990, p. 112)

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December 4, 2007

Green Grocer

Filed under: Australia,Cyclochila australasiae,Green Grocer — by Dan Mozgai @ 12:14 pm

Bron sent us this Green Grocer photo taken in Orange NSW Australia.

Green Grocer Cicada

The scientific term for Green Grocers is Cyclochila australasiae. The come in other varieties such as the yellow colored Yellow Mondays and blue Blue Moons.

Cyclochila australasiae can be found in eastern Queensland, NSW and Victoria, and most emerge in October and November (Moulds, M.S.. Australian Cicadas Kennsignton: New South Wales Press, 1990, p. 61.).

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