Champaka - Cicada Mania

Dedicated to cicadas, the most amazing insects in the world.

January 18, 2019

Champaka meyeri (Distant, 1883)

Champaka meyeri (Distant, 1883) is a cicada found in Indonesia.

Champaka meyeri was formerly known as Cosmopsaltria majuscula.

Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadinae
Tribe: Dundubiini
SubTribe: Dundubiina
Genus: Champaka
Species: Champaka meyeri (Distant, 1883)

Champaka meyeri (Distant, 1883)

Species (Cosmopsaltria majuscula) description from A Monograph of Oriental Cicadas by W.L. Distant:

Body above warm-ochraceous. Head with the front, — excepting base and apex, — the area of the ocelli, and a larger spot on inner margin of eyes, dark castaneous; eyes ochraceous, with their inner area olivaceous. Pronotum with a broad central longitudinal castaneous fascia and a small castaneous spot near anterior lateral margin. Mesonotum with five blackish fasciae, the central one very slender and joining a triangular fascia in front of basal cruciform elevation, on each side of the central fascia is a short and broader one, and the lateral fasciae are long, broad and slightly curved. Abdomen above ochraceous. Body beneath ochraceous; the face blackish, with a central ochraceous spot near anterior margin, and a black marginal spot between eyes and face; legs pale castaneous, the inner margins of anterior femora blackish, anterior and intermediate tibiae and tarsi somewhat darker castaneous, the posterior tarsi ochraceous.

Tegmina and wings pale hyaline, the venation ochraceous, but becoming fuscous towards apical areas; the tegmina with the costal margin fuscous beyond base of upper ulnar area, and the transverse veins at bases of second and third apical areas infuscated.

The body is long and broad; the rostrum reaches the posterior coxae; the opercula are slender and placed widely apart, concave on each side beyond base, but very slightly so outwardly, the apices rounded and reaching the fourth abdominal segment.

References:

The illustration, description and location information comes from A Monograph of Oriental Cicadas by W. L. Distant. 1889-1892. Read it on the Biodiversity Heritage Library website.
Species name information comes from Allen Sanborn’s Catalogue of the Cicadoidea (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha).

Comments (0)

December 2, 2018

Champaka nigra (Distant, 1888)

Champaka nigra (Distant, 1888) is found in the Philipines.

Back in 1913 Platylomia albomaculata and Platylomia nigra were regarded as two different species. (FYI, albomaculata means white spotted in Latin, and nigra means black or dark also in Latin.) Somewhere along the line it was determined that they’re the same species, and belong to the Champaka Distant, 1905 genus, thus Champaka nigra.

Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadinae
Tribe: Dundubiini
SubTribe: Dundubiina
Genus: Champaka
Species: Champaka nigra (Distant, 1888)

Champaka nigra (Distant, 1888)
The image says Platylomia albomaculata. but the new name of this cicada is Champaka nigra.

Champaka genus description by W. L. Distant in Genera Insectorum, 1913:

Characters. — Head (including eyes) considerably broader than base of mesonotum, its length about equal to breadth between eyes, lateral margins of front and vertex almost obliquely in line; pronotum about as long as head, its lateral margins armed with a distinct medial spine ; mesonotum moderately tumid ; abdomen considerably longer than space between apex of head and base of cruciform elevation ; tympana covered, tympanal coverings broader than long; opercula short. just reaching basal abdominal segment, laterally oblique and thus exposing the marginal areas of the cavities rostrum reaching the posterior coxae; anterior femora strongly spined beneath ; tegmina and wings hyaline, the first considerably longer than the body and with its greatest breadth considerably less than a third of its length; apical areas eight; basal cell longer than broad.

References:

The illustration and genus description comes from the journal Genera Insectorum, and a specific article from 1913 by W. L. Distant titled Homoptera. Fam. Cicadidae, Subfam, Cicadinae. Read it on the Biodiversity Heritage Library website.
Current species name verified using Allen Sanborn’s Catalogue of the Cicadoidea (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha).

Comments (2)

November 23, 2018

Champaka viridimaculata (Distant, 1889)

Champaka viridimaculata (Distant, 1889) is a cicada found on Borneo (Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia). Viridimaculata means green spotted in Latin — perhaps that is a reference to the green coloring in the cells of the wings near its body.

Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadinae
Tribe: Dundubiini
SubTribe: Dundubiina
Genus: Champaka
Species: Champaka viridimaculata (Distant, 1889)

Champaka viridimaculata (Distant, 1889)

Champaka genus description by W. L. Distant in Genera Insectorum, 1913:

Characters. — Head (including eyes) considerably broader than base of mesonotum, its length about equal to breadth between eyes, lateral margins of front and vertex almost obliquely in line; pronotum about as long as head, its lateral margins armed with a distinct medial spine ; mesonotum moderately tumid ; abdomen considerably longer than space between apex of head and base of cruciform elevation ; tympana covered, tympanal coverings broader than long; opercula short. just reaching basal abdominal segment, laterally oblique and thus exposing the marginal areas of the cavities rostrum reaching the posterior coxae; anterior femora strongly spined beneath ; tegmina and wings hyaline, the first considerably longer than the body and with its greatest breadth considerably less than a third of its length; apical areas eight; basal cell longer than broad.

References:

The illustration and genus description comes from the journal Genera Insectorum, and a specific article from 1913 by W. L. Distant titled Homoptera. Fam. Cicadidae, Subfam, Cicadinae. Read it on the Biodiversity Heritage Library website.
Current species name verified using Allen Sanborn’s Catalogue of the Cicadoidea (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha).

Comments (0)