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:
December 24, 2013
September 22, 2013
Cicada Season has begun in Australia
David Emery wrote to let us know that cicada season has begun in parts of Australia:
After some 50mm of rain on 16-17 Sept and the warmest winter on record on the east coast, the “masked devil” morphs of Cyclochila australasiae were in good voice in the mountains west and south of Sydney, Australia on 22nd Sept. The bladder cicadas (Cystosoma saundersii) are also rattling in Metro Sydney. These are about 2 weeks early this year as are several of the smaller grass cicadas and Pauropsalta species. Roll on summer!
Cheers, David.
Masked Devil cicada (Cyclochila australasiae):
More information about Cyclochila australasiae.
Bladder cicadas (Cystosoma saundersii):
More information about Cystosoma saundersii.
Bottle Cicada (Chlorocysta sp.):
More information about Bottle cicadas.
August 24, 2009
Pauropsalta mneme
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)?
Can you identify this Australian cicada??? The photo was take by Elizabeth Barnett.
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.)