Tosena - Cicada Mania

March 21, 2015

Better IDs for E.A. Seguy Cicada Illustrations

Filed under: Callogaeana,Cryptotympana,Identify,Pop Culture,Tacua,Talainga,Thopha,Tosena,Zammara — Dan @ 8:30 am

The NCSU Libraries Rare and Unique Digital Collections website recently reminded the us of artist Eugene Alain (E.A.) Seguy’s insect illustrations. Seguy created these illustrations in the 1920’s, and as you might imagine, some of the cicada names cited in the notes for these illustrations have changed. Names typically change when cicadas are reclassified due to discoveries about their biology, or when we realize that someone else had actually named them earlier than the namer currently given credit.

Here are the two illustrations, the accompanying identification, and corrected identifications.

Illustration:

Accompanying identification:

1. Tacua speciosa. Indes; 2. Polyneura ducalis. Indes Or.; 3. Cicada saccata. Australie; 4. Cicada fascialis. Siam; 5. Tozena melanoptera. Indes Or.

Corrected or expanded identification:

Tacua speciosa. This is correct, although there are two subspecies of T. speciosa, I’m going to guess it is Tacua speciosa speciosa (Illiger, 1800) based on the location.
Polyneura ducalis. This is correct. Polyneura ducalis Westwood, 1840.
Cicada saccata. This is now: Thopha saccata (Fabricius, 1803).
Cicada fascialis. This is now: Cryptotympana facialis facialis (Walker, 1858). Update: David Emery says this might be a Cryptotympana acuta (Signoret, 1849).
Tozena melanoptera. Close enough. Tosena melanoptera melanoptera (White, 1846). There are a few unnamed subspecies.

Illustration:

Accompanying identification:

1. Goeana festiva. Indes; 2. Zammara tympanum. Amérique du Sud; 3. Goeana ochracea. Indes; 4. Phenax variegata. Brésil; 5. Hemisciera maculipennis. Amazone

Corrected or expanded identification:

Goeana festiva is actually Callogaeana festiva festiva (Fabricius, 1803).
Zammara tympanum. This is correct. Zammara tympanum (Fabricius, 1803).
Goeana ochracea is way off. It is a Talainga binghami Distant, 1890.
Phenax variegata is not a cicada, is it a fulgoroid planthopper, but the id is correct.
Hemisciera maculipennis is correct. Hemisciera maculipennis (de Laporte, 1832) aka the “Stop and Go” cicada, because its colors resemble the colors of a stop light.

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January 19, 2014

A visual comparison of some cicadas of Southeast Asia

Filed under: Angamiana,Becquartina,Gaeana,Platypleura,Tacua,Thailand,Tosena,Trengganua — Dan @ 3:58 pm

This is a photo of one of my displays at home. Some of the specimens aren’t in the best shape, but it is good enough to distinguish the species.

Angamiana floridula, Becquartina electa, Gaeana cheni, Gaeana festiva, Platypleura mira, Tacua speciosa, Tosena albata, Tosena melanoptera, Tosena paviei, and Trengganua sibylla are featured in the image.

Click the image for a larger image.

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April 10, 2013

Cicadas from Vietnam

Filed under: Angamiana,Tosena,Vietnam — Dan @ 5:28 pm

Updated as of 2/20/2014.

Martin Kolner sent us photos of two beautiful cicadas from Sapa Vietnam.

The first one ~~belongs to the genus Angamiana, and I think it is an Angamiana floridula~~ might be a Proretineta vermacula (Chou& Yao, 1985), according to David Emery.

The second cicada belongs to the genus Tosena.

According to David, the Tosena is “likely to be T.fasciata (melanoptera does not have orange anywhere), even though the dorsal markings are pretty bleached”.

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December 30, 2012

Tosena Cicadas

Filed under: Tosena — Dan @ 9:56 am

Tosena is a genus of cicadas that can be found in the Indo-Malaya ecozone, which includes the Indian subcontinent, Southeastern Asia and southern China. Tosena cicadas have colorful wings, which rival the beauty of butterfly wings. Tosena are easily obtainable online from stores that sell insects, or ebay. The Tosena genus was first identified by Charles Jean-Baptiste Amyot & Jean Guillaume Audinet-Serville in 1843.

From A Monograph of Oriental Cicadidae by W. L. Distant:

Tosena is one of the most conspicuous genera of the Cicadidae, and its species are all included in this fauna. The north-eastern districts of Continental India are its head-quarters, for here are focused some of the largest and handsomest of its species ; it is also well represented in Burma, and from thence its distribution is extended throughout the Malay Peninsula to the south, and apparently northward as far as some portions of China. In the Malayan Archipelago it is not uncommon in Sumatra, Java, and Borneo, and as I have seen representatives from Amboyna, it probably exists in other intervening islands, of which, however, we have at present no precise information.

Different types of Tosena:

Tosena albata:

Photo by Michel Chantraine.

Photos of live T. albata.

Distinguishing features: Mustard colored pronotal collar, orange abdomen with a series of two black circular spots, and dark brown wings with one white stripe on each fore wing.

Habitat: Southeast Asia.

Tosena depicta:

Illustration from A Monograph of Oriental Cicadidae by W. L. Distant.

Photos of living T. depicta.

Distinguishing features: A vibrant green pronotal collar; an orange abdomen with a series of black markings; wings are dark brown to black, with the one white stripe on each fore wing, and a white anal lobe on each hind wing.

Phantastic songs of the S.E. Asian cicadas! website has an MP3 of a T. depicta singing.

Habitat: Southeast Asia.

Tosena dives

No photos (on this site), but I’ve seen them on the Cicadas of India Facebook page.

Distinguishing features: Brown wings, with one white stripe on each fore wing, and the hind wings are half orange.

Habitat: India.

Tosena fasciata

Tosena fasciata by Álvaro Lisón Gómez Creative Commons License.

Photo of a live T. fasciata.

Distinguishing features: A pale orange pronotal collar; brown wings with one white stripe on each fore wing; an orange abdomen with one black spot; the the anal lobe of the hind wing appears lighter in color than the rest of the hind wing.

Habitat: Southeast Asia.

Tosena mearesiana

No photos.

Distinguishing features: See A Monograph of Oriental Cicadidae by W. L. Distant

Habitat: India.

Tosena melanoptera

Photos of a live T. melanoptera.

Distinguishing features: Red eyes; white pronotal collar; pale brown stripe on dark brown fore wings.

Habitat: India & Southeast Asia.

Tosena monitvaga

No photos.

Distinguishing features: See A Monograph of Oriental Cicadidae by W. L. Distant

Habitat: India.

Tosena paviei

Photo by Michel Chantraine.

A photo of a live T. paviei.

Distinguishing features: Red “mask” between eyes. Black wings, with one pale-orange stripe on each fore wing, light-orange veins, and hind wings that are half orange.

Habitat: Southeast Asia.

Distantalna splendida (formerly Tosena sibylla)

Technically speaking, the Tosena splendida is now Distantalna splendida. It has its own genus, and if you compare it visually to the other Tosena, you can see on reason why (no wing stripe).

Illustration from A Monograph of Oriental Cicadidae by W. L. Distant.

Distinguishing features: See A Monograph of Oriental Cicadidae by W. L. Distant

Habitat: Southeast Asia.

Tosena splendida

Photo by Michel Chantraine.

Illustration from A Monograph of Oriental Cicadidae by W. L. Distant.

A photo of a live T. splendida.

Distinguishing features: Pale green hind wings; Fore wings feature an intricate white, dark-brown, orange and yellow pattern based on the structure of the viens of the wing; red markings on legs; yellow markings on thorax.

Habitat: India, Southeast Asia.

Sources to learn more about Tosena cicadas:

The Book Cicadas of Thailand: General and Particular Characteristics. Volume 1 by Michel Boulard. This book mentions Tosena, in particular, many times, and in general it does an excellent job of discussing the anatomy, behavior and habitat of cicadas found in Thailand.
A Monograph of Oriental Cicadidae by W. L. Distant. (1889, Published by the Order of the Trustees of the Indian Museum of Calcutta).
Rhynchota: Heteroptera-Homopetera ( Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma ) by W. L. Distant (1906)
The Cicadas of India Facebook page

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