Cicada Mania

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

December 31, 2010

Cicada Alphabet: P

Filed under: Cicada Alphabet — Dan @ 10:04 am

The tiny Pacarina puella is an American cicada (North and Central), which is also know as the Mesquite Cicada. Here’s a photo a Pacarina puella.

Pauropsalta is a genus of Australian cicadas, once species of which is the Pauropsalta mneme, aka the Alarm Clock Ticker.

Periodical cicadas are cicadas that emerge in regular intervals of years. The most well known periodical cicadas belong to the genus Magicicada, which emerge every 17 or 13 years (depending on the species). There is also a periodical cicada in India called the Chremistica which emerges every 4 years, in-synch with the World Cup.

There’s at least 3 genus of cicadas that begin with “Platy” which means broad or flat (Greek). Not sure what that means in terms of the naming or morphology of these cicadas, but maybe someone will say why in the comments.

Platylomia is a genus of cicada that exists in Asia. Here is a photo of a Platylomia radah from Thailand (with a 5″ wingspan).

Platypleura is also a genus of cicada that exists in Asia. Here is an orange, brown and beige Platypleura mira from Thailand, and a smaller, but similarly-colored Platypleura mokensis, also from Thailand.

Platypedia putnami is a species of North American cicada (western USA) that is also know as Putnam’s Cicada. BugGuide has the best collection of Platypedia putnami photos.

The pronotum covers the dorsal area of a cicada’s thorax closest to the head. The pronotum should not be confused with the mesonotum, which covers the dorsal area of the thorax closest to the abdomen (and also features the McDonalds’ arches). Pronotum essentially means “before the back” in Greek. Mesonotum essentially means “the middle of the back”.

The pronotal collar is the area of the promotum that looks like a collar (shirt, dog). Cicada researchers use the shape and color of the pronotal collar as one way to identify a cicada’s species.

Psaltoda is a genus of cicada found in Australia. The Pasltoda moerens is a species of cicada also know as the Redeye cicada (you guessed it) because of its red eyes.

Pruinose is a white, chalky substance that appears on the bodies of cicadas and other insects. Pruinose essentially means “full of hoar frost” in Latin, which makes sense as pruinose looks like frost.

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