Cicada Mania

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

Locations where cicadas can be found, including countries and continents.

December 4, 2015

New Zealand Cicada Information

Filed under: Amphipsalta | David Marshall | Kathy Hill | Kikihia | New Zealand — Dan @ 8:39 pm

Old Map of New Zealand

There isn’t a lot of New Zealand cicada information on this website, but I wanted to point you to a few good resources if you are interested:

First, there’s the NEW ZEALAND CICADAS (HEMIPTERA: CICADIDAE): A VIRTUAL IDENTIFICATION GUIDE which features photographs and extensive information about the cicadas of New Zealand. The site has an abundance of information, and a wonderful design & layout.

Second, there’s Cicada Central’s New Zealand Cicada website, which features an electronic field guide of New Zealand Cicada Species, a specimen database, and a photo gallery featuring Kikihia, Amphipsaltas, and Maoricicada.

Third, iNaturalist is an excellent place to discover information about cicadas, and report sightings.

I asked David Marshall of InsectSingers.com, “when does New Zealand cicada season start and end?” His answer essentially is that it depends on the location, elevation, and species, but the best months are between December and April. Interestingly, in certain locations K. muta sing every month of the year.

David also mentioned the Amphipsalta zelandica (Feb-March) which calls using wing-clicks! Here is a video.

Chorus Cicada at Punakaiki

Read the downloadable article Chorus Cicada, Amphipsalta zelandica (Boisduval), males calling with only wing-clicks by Kathy B. R. Hill, The Weta (2012) 43(1): 15—20, for more information.

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Websites

October 6, 2015

Quintilla aurora cicada of the Republic of South Africa

Filed under: Africa (Continent) | Parnisini | South Africa — Dan @ 4:59 am

Quintilia aurora

Thanks to David Emery for sending this photo of the amazing Quintilia aurora (Walker, 1850) cicada which can be found in the Republic of South Africa.

Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadettinae
Tribe: Parnisini
Genus: Quintilia
Species: Quintilia aurora (Walker, 1850)

September 25, 2015

The Great Cicada Blitz of Sydney Australia

Filed under: Australia | Nathan Emery — Dan @ 4:13 am

If you’re in the Sydney, Australia area and you see or hear a cicada this season, report it to the Great Cicada Blitz, an iNaturalist website set up by cicada researcher Nathan Emery. The purpose of this website is to map and identify the various cicada species in the Sydney area.

Cicada Blitz

April 26, 2015

One new genus, and 15 new species of cicada in Argentina

Filed under: Allen F. Sanborn | Argentina | Maxine E. Heath — Dan @ 6:21 am

Allen F. Sanborn & Maxine S. Heath published a new paper about cicadas titled The cicadas of Argentina with new records, a new genus and fifteen new species (Hemiptera: Cicadoidea: Cicadidae) in Zootaxa Vol 3883, No 1, in November of 2014. Website for the document.

The abstract of the paper reveals some exciting discoveries:

  1. 108 species belonging to 37 genera, eight tribes, and three subfamilies of cicadas are represented in the Argentine cicada fauna.
  2. The new genus is Torresia Sanborn & Heath gen. n.
  3. New species:
    1. Adusella signata Haupt, 1918 rev. stat.
    2. Alarcta micromacula Sanborn & Heath sp. n.
    3. Chonosia longiopercula Sanborn & Heath sp. n.
    4. Chonosia septentrionala Sanborn & Heath sp. n.
    5. Dorisiana noriegai Sanborn & Heath sp. n.
    6. Fidicinoides ferruginosa Sanborn & Heath sp. n.
    7. Guyalna platyrhina Sanborn & Heath sp. n.
    8. Herrera humilastrata Sanborn & Heath sp. n.
    9. Herrera umbraphila Sanborn & Heath sp. n.
    10. Parnisa lineaviridia Sanborn & Heath sp. n.
    11. Parnisa viridis Sanborn & Heath sp. n.
    12. Prasinosoma medialinea Sanborn & Heath sp. n.
    13. Proarna alalonga Sanborn & Heath sp. n.
    14. Proarna parva Sanborn & Heath sp. n.
    15. Torresia lariojaensis Sanborn & Heath sp. n.
    16. Torresia sanjuanensis Sanborn & Heath sp. n.

    4. The document is 94 pages long.

April 5, 2015

Time to start looking for signs of periodical cicadas

Filed under: Magicicada | Periodical | United States | Video — Dan @ 1:01 am

Depending on where you live, it might be warm enough for periodical cicadas to start moving around underground, or start digging tunnels to the surface and building cicada “chimneys” above their holes.

The next major emergences are Brood XIII (17-year) and Brood XIX (13-year) in 2024. The last time these broods co-emerged was 1803.

What to look for:

1) Animals can hear the cicadas stirring underground, and will try to dig them up and eat them. Look for holes (about the size of a walnut or larger) made by animals digging for cicadas.

Brood II; Cicada Holes

2) Look for cicadas under stones and slates. Some cicadas will burrow their way to the surface, but they hit a large stone or slate and can go no further.

If you find them in this situation, gently put the stone or slate back. They will usually find their way around the obstruction once the time is right.

One clue that a Magicicada nymph is not ready to emerge is its eyes are still white. Their eyes turn red/orange prior to emerging (a few retain a white/blue color).

3) Cicada holes are about the size of a dime. Cicadas preemptively dig holes to the surface and wait until the weather is nice enough for them to emerge. Sometimes you can see them down in the holes.

Magicicada holes

Magicicada holes

4) Cicadas form chimneys above their holes when the soil is moist or muddy. These chimneys might look like a simple golf ball-sized dome or a structure over six inches tall.


Photo by Roy Troutman.

Brood II 2013 - Dan Mozgai - Cicada Chimneys

Periodical cicadas typically won’t emerge until their body temperature reaches approximately 65 degrees Fahrenheit (17-19.5 Celsius1). Their bodies are warmed by surrounding soil or warm water from rain. A good rule of thumb is, if the soil 8 inches(20 cm) deep is 65°, the conditions are good that they might emerge.

1Heath, J.E. 1968. Thermal synchronization of emergence in periodical “17-year” cicadas (Homoptera. Cicadidae, Magicicada). American Midland Naturalist 80:440—448.

March 4, 2015

New Version of The Cicadidae of Japan

Filed under: Books | Japan — Dan @ 6:08 am

A new version of the Cicadidae of Japan is out. This is not a reprint. It adds new photos and the accompanying CD features new audio recordings.

The book was authored by Dr. M. Haysashi and Dr. Yasumasa Saisho (of the incredible Cicadidae of Japan website).

Cicadidae of Japan

It is available on Amazon in Japan.

February 23, 2015

Photos of Cicadas of New Zealand

Filed under: Amphipsalta | Kikihia | Maoricicada | New Zealand — Dan @ 8:23 pm

Flickr.com is an excellent source of cicada photos, and it is where I go for cicada photos from New Zealand. This is a sample of the cicada photos you will find on Flickr.com.

The colorful Amphipsalta zealandica:

Chorus Cicada or Kihikihi
Photo by Sid Mosdell. Auckland New Zealand. CC BY 2.0.

Amphipsalta zelandica (ii)
Photo by Nuytsia@Tas. Punakaiki, Paporoa National Park, New Zealand. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Members of the genus Kikihia:

the singing cicada
Photo by Rosino. Auckland, New Zealand. CC BY-SA 2.0.

cicada III
Photo by aliceskr. New Zealand. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

Members of the genus Maoricicada:

JJS_0101
Photos by Jon Sullivan. Auckland, New Zealand. CC BY-NC 2.0.

JJS_0068 2
Photo by Jon Sullivan. Auckland, New Zealand. CC BY-NC 2.0.

Visit NEW ZEALAND CICADAS (HEMIPTERA: CICADIDAE): A VIRTUAL IDENTIFICATION GUIDE for in-depth information about the cicadas of New Zealand.

February 5, 2015

Visualizing all periodical cicada broods

Filed under: John Cooley | Magicicada | Periodical | United States — Tags: , , , , , — Dan @ 7:39 pm

Isn’t this a lovely picture (updated with colors sorted)?

All Broods

This image represents the combined range of all Magicicada periodical cicada broods, including the extinct Broods XI (last recorded in Connecticut) and XXI (last recorded in Florida).

To produce this image, I visited John Cooley’s Cicadas @ UCONN (formerly Magicicada.org) Cicada Geospacial Data Clearinghouse and downloaded the Shapefile of Magicicada broods. Then I used the computer program QGIS to change the Shapefile to a KML file, and then I opened the file in Google Earth. Credit goes to John for pulling the data together into the Shapefile.

I manually edited the KML file to try to give each Brood a different color.

An interesting area is Fredrick County, where 5 different broods seem to exist (or have existed) at once.
Fredrick County VA

Peach = Brood I
Green = Brood II
Purple = Brood V
Cyan = Brood X
Red = Brood XIV

It’s also interesting that four of the broods are separated by four years: X, XIV, I, V.

January 20, 2015

Green Grocer Merch

Filed under: Australia | Cicada Mania | Cyclochila — Dan @ 6:23 am

Green Grocer

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).

November 20, 2014

Australia Cicada Websites

Filed under: Australia | Websites — Dan @ 10:26 am

This is a selection of links to websites dedicated to the cicadas of Australia.

  1. A web guide to the Cicadas of Australia. BY L.W. Popple. Features an abundance of cicada information, photos and maps PHOTOS MAPS AUDIO.
  2. CSIRO Cicadidae (ento.csiro.au) Dozens of specimen photos organized by scientific name, including location information too. PHOTOS
  3. Brisbane Cicadas (brisbaneinsects.com) One of the best Australian cicada sites. Features pages for the following cicadas Brown Bunyip, Razor Grinder, Bladder Cicada, Floury Baker, Thin-striped Wattle Cicada, Small Bottle. Many photos and some audio files. PHOTOS AUDIO
  4. Narelle Power’s Cicada Photos (pbase.com) About a dozen photos, including Cicadetta oldfieldi (Wattle), Tamasa tristigma (Brown Bunyip), Psaltoda harrisii (Yellow Belly). PHOTOS
  5. Scribbly Gum’s The Summer of Signing Cicadas (abc.net.au) Many beautiful photos and fantastic information. PHOTOS MAPS
  6. Morwell National Park Online (morwellnp.pangaean.net) Photos of Cicadetta abdominalis/Grasshopper firetail, Cicadetta denisoni/Black firetail, Cyclochila australasiae/Greengrocer, Pauropsalta rubristrigata/Great montane squeaker. PHOTOS
  7. Chambers Wildlife Rainforest Lodges – Cicadas (rainforest-australia.com) Several photos and many lists of cicada facts. Tropical North Queensland, Australia. PHOTOS
  8. AusEmade Cicada (ausemade.com.au) An abundance of cicada information including photos and a chart that tells you where you can find cicadas by scientific and common names. PHOTOS

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