An excellent photo of mating Bladder cicadas (Cystosoma saundersii) by David Emery.
December 2, 2012
May 11, 2012
Brood XIV decelleration observed by Roy Troutman
Here’s something neat. Roy Troutman discovered some Brood XIV Magicicadas emerging 4 years late in Ohio. That’s a “21 year cicada”. :)
Here’s a photo:
And a gallery of all these Brood XIV stragglers.
Gene Kritsky observed a similar unexpected emergence in 1995. See “The Unexpected 1995 Emergence of Periodical Cicadas (Homoptera: Cicadidae: Magicicada spp.) in Ohio”, Gene Kritsky and Sue Simon, Department of Biology, College of Mount St. Joseph, Cincinnati, OH. (OHIO J. SCI. 96 (1): 27-28, 1996). An excerpt from the article:
August 7, 2011
Walker’s Cicada aka Tibicen pronotalis (aka T. walkeri, T. marginalis)
Roy Troutman sent us these amazing photos of a female Walker’s Cicada aka Tibicen pronotalis (aka T. walkeri, T. marginalis) taken in Batavia, Ohio. As you can guess by the various akas (also known as), the Tibicen pronotalis has been known by several species names in the past. Sometimes it takes cicada researchers a while to figure out that two different species are the same species (which is probably the case here). Tibicen pronotalis also sounds exactly like another species of Tibicen: Tibicen dealbatus. The major difference between the T. pronotalis and the T. dealbatus is the T. dealnatus has more pruinose than the T. pronotalis. Pruinose is the white, chalky substance that appears on the bodies of cicadas.
Walker’s Cicada is found in 18 mid-western and southern states. Read more about this pretty cicada on Bug Guide, and listen to its song on Insect Singers.
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):
Here’s a box of Greengrocers (from Kevin Lee):
- Gaeana is a genus of cicadae found in Asia. Here are three Gaeana from Thailand: the black, gray, yellow and green Gaeana cheni, the brown, yellow and orange Gaeana festavor, and brown, white and green Gaeana festiva.
- Matija Gogala is a cicada researcher located in Ljubljana Slovenia. His Songs of Cicadas and Phantastic songs of the S.E. Asian cicadas! websites have been online since the 1990s.
July 28, 2010
Tibicen auletes aka Northern Dusk-singing Cicada
New Tibicen auletes photos from Elias Bonaros.
The Tibicen auletes aka Northern Dusk-singing Cicada is the largest of the Tibicen cicadas in the U.S.A.
July 1, 2010
Okanagana rimosa nymph skins
The Okanagana rimosa, also known as Say’s Cicada, is a cicada that can be found in the USA in northern states east of the Rockies, like New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota and all New England states. Say’s cicada can also be found in the Quebec, Ontario, and Manitoba provinces of Canada.
Say’s Cicada is black and orange; orange legs, orange markings on its mesonotum, and orange bands around most segments of its body. Here’s a photo of an adult:
A few weeks ago Elias Bonaros sent us some photos of the exuvia (shed skins) of Okanagana rimosa nymphs that he found while searching for cicadas in Western Massachusetts with Gerry from Massachusetts Cicadas. It’s interesting that the black bands that appear around the segments of the nymph’s body are where we see orange bands in the adult form.
Say’s cicada has a fantastic call that needs to be heard to be appreciated. Visit the Songs of Insects website to hear the call of a Okanagana rimosa.
An interesting note about the Okanagana rimosa, it has been showed to have a 9 year life cycle, and appears to be protoperiodical:
“Soper et al (112) showed experimentally that Okanagana rimosa had a life
cycle of 9 years, and that in the field during a 9-year period (1962 to
1970) it was extremely abundant in 4 years and scarce or absent in the
other 5. Heath (32) also studied cicadas of the genus Okanagana and
found several species that appear to be protoperiodical.”
June 17, 2010
Neocicada hieroglyphica
Here’s a cool photo of a Neocicada hieroglyphica found by Matt Berger on top of a rocky ridge in the Red River Gorge in Kentucky.
May 24, 2010
Diceroprocta olympusa calling
Joe Green reported that the Diceroprocta olympusa have started calling in Southwest Florida (Lehigh Acres).
Here’s some video featuring their song:
D. olympusa cicada stops when approached in Lehigh by Joe Green from Cicada Mania on Vimeo.
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.
May 16, 2010
Brood XIV Straggler in Ohio
Roy Troutman found this Brood XIV Magicicada straggler in the Cincinnati Ohio area this weekend. This cicada emerged 2 years after it should have. Amazing.
