A Green Grocer (Cyclochila australasiae (Donovan, 1805)) cicada toy.
Green Grocers are found in eastern Australia.
September 27, 2022
September 15, 2022
Cicada Stamps from Australia
Looks like the post office of Australia has cicada themed stamps. As they say in the Pokemon world, “got to collect them all” (or something like that).
Update:
Here’s a photo of the actual stamps. I got them on eBay.
Masked Devil (Cyclochila australasiae) stamp:
More about Masked Devil cicadas:
- Masked Devil aka Cyclochila australasiae
- Ozzie Cicadas: Masked Devil
- Cyclochila australasiae (Donovan, 1805)
Golden Emperor (Anapsaltoda pulchra) stamp:
More about Golden Emperor cicadas:
Sandgrinder (Arenopsaltria fullo) stamp:
More Sandgrinder cicada action:
March 18, 2020
Green Grocer (Cyclochila australasiae) photos by Kees Green
Green Grocer (Cyclochila australasiae) photos from Kees Green. Australia. 2013.
Green Grocer Cyclochila australasiae nymph by Kees Green
Green Grocer Cyclochila australasiae molting by Kees Green
Green Grocer Cyclochila australasiae molting by Kees Green 02
Green Grocer Cyclochila australasiae molting by Kees Green
Green Grocer Cyclochila australasiae Adults by Kees Green
March 8, 2020
Kevin Lee’s Green Grocer Photos
Kevin Lee’s Green Grocer (Cyclochila australasiae) photos:
This one is somewhere between a Green Grocer and a Yellow Monday, I think. Check out the “mask” between the eyes:
February 29, 2020
Yellow Monday by Tom Katzoulopolopoulous
Yellow Monday (Cyclochila australasiae) photos by Tom Katzoulopolopoulous.
Green Grocer (Cyclochila australasiae) photo by Bron
Green Grocer (Cyclochila australasiae) photo by Bron. Taken in Australia in 2007.
October 23, 2018
Cyclochila australasiae (Donovan, 1805)
Cyclochila australasiae (Donovan, 1805) is found in Australia and is remarkable for its variety of color morph, including green (Green Grocers), yellow (Yellow Mondays), blue (Blue Moons), and orange (Masked Devils).
Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadinae
Tribe: Cyclochilini
Genus: Cyclochila
Species: Cyclochila australasiae (Donovan, 1805)
A Green Grocer:
Green Grocer Photo by Kevin Lee.
A Green Grocer Specimen:
Rare Blue Moon variety. Photo by David Emery.
Cyclochila genus description by W. L. Distant:
Characters. — Head about long as breadth between eyes, including eyes distinctly narrower than pronotum but almost as wide as its anterior margin, ocelli close together near middle of vertex, very much more remote from eyes than from each other; face longer than broad, moderately globose; pronotum about as long as mesonotum including the cruciform elevation, its lateral. margins moderately convexly ampliated ; abdomen about as long as space between apex of head and base of cruciform elevation, beneath moderately convex ; opercula short, not passing base of abdomen ; tegmina about or nearly three times longer than broad, basal cell scarcely longer than broad, apical areas eight; wings more than half the length of tegmina, apical areas six.
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).
January 20, 2015
Green Grocer Merch
I felt bad about always using an illustration of North American cicadas, so I made a Green Grocer cicada for Australian fans.
Get this image on a shirt, mug or even a pillow case via CafePress (the mugs are the most affordable).
December 24, 2013
Photos of Cicadas from Australia
Kees Green sent us many photos of cicadas taken in Australia.
Here is a sample:
A Green Grocer (Cyclochila australasiae) nymph:
An unidentified Pauropsalta sp.:
A Thopha sessilibia:
More cicada images from Kees:
October 12, 2013
A third way cicadas make sounds
Cicadas are well known for the songs male cicadas make with their their tymbals, which are drum-like organs found in their abdomens.
Some female cicadas will also flick their wings to get the males attention. Watch this video where a male Magicicada is convinced that the snapping of fingers is a wing flick. Note: Magicicada males will also flick their wings once they become infected with the Massospora cicadina fungus (which removes their sex organs).
There is a third way some cicadas can make sounds. This method of creating a sound is unique to the Australian species Cyclochila australasiae (aka the Green Grocer and Masked Devil). These cicadas have stridulatory ridges on their pronotal collars (the collar shaped structure at the back of their head), and a stridulatory scraper on their fore wing.
From M. S. MOULDS, 2012, A review of the genera of Australian cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadoidea). Magnolia Press Auckland, New Zealand. p84:
Cyclochila is unique among the Cicadoidea in possessing a stridulatory file on the underside of the lateral angles of the pronotal collar that interacts with a scraper on the fore wing base (Fig. 132). Rubbed together these produce low audible sound in hand-held specimens (K. Hill, pers. comm.), the purpose of which is for sexual com- munication at close quarters (J. Kentwell and B. Fryz, pers. comm.)
Here is a photo of these structures:
The location of these structures is right about where the blue pin is in this photo:
Update:
Tim McNary of the Bibliography of the Cicadoidea website, let us know that Clidophleps cicadas are also able to create should using a stridulatory structure. Clidophleps is a genus of cicada that can be found in California, Nevada, Arizona, and I assume adjacent parts of Mexico. Clidophleps differs from Cyclochila in that the stridulatory structure is on its mesonotum, and not its pronotal collar.
Photo courtesy of Tim McNary:
