Category: Locations

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

Categories
Allen F. Sanborn Books Cacama Canada Cicadettana Diceroprocta Magicicada Okanagana Okanagodes Platypedia Polly K. Phillips Tibicen U.S.A.

Biogeography of the Cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) of North America, North of Mexico

Download the PDF here: www.cicadamania.com/downloads/diversity-05-00166.pdf.

We are excited to announce the availability of a document by Allen F. Sanborn and Polly K. Phillips titled Biogeography of the Cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) of North America, North of Mexico. This document features distribution maps for North American cicada species! This document is an excellent companion to The Cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadoidea: Cicadidae) of North America North of Mexico by Allen F. Sanborn and Maxine S. Heath (link to that book).

Abstract: We describe and illustrate the biogeography of the cicadas inhabiting continental North America, north of Mexico. Species distributions were determined through our collecting efforts as well as label data from more than 110 institutional collections. The status of subspecies is discussed with respect to their distributions. As we have shown over limited geographic areas, the distribution of individual species is related to the habitat in which they are found. We discuss the biogeography of the genera with respect to their phylogenetic relationships. California is the state with the greatest alpha diversity (89 species, 46.6% of taxa) and unique species (35 species, 18.3% of taxa). Texas, Arizona, Colorado and Utah are the states with the next greatest alpha diversity with Texas, Arizona and Utah being next for unique species diversity. Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode Island are the states with the least amount of cicada diversity. Diversity is greatest in states and areas where there is a diversity of plant communities and habitats within these communities. Mountainous terrain also coincides with increases in diversity. Several regions of the focus area require additional collection efforts to fill in the distributions of several species.
Keywords: cicada; distribution; Diceroprocta; Tibicen; Okanagana; Okanagodes; Cacama; Magicicada; Platypedia; Cicadetta

An example of a map from the document:

Example Map

Categories
Australia

Drymopsalta hobsoni, a newly identified cicada in Australia

Drymopsalta hobsoni is a newly identified cicada found in Australia.

Drymopsalta hobsoni sp. nov. is one of three new species of cicada described this year by Tony Ewart and Lindsay Popple.* Tony and Lindsay had participated in a QPWS fauna survey at Bringalily State Forest, near Inglewood in southern inland Queensland. When returning to the site subsequently for a follow-up cicada search, Tony located the new cicada.

Learn more and see photos of this cicada in Robert Ashdown’s article New summer singers.

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Australia Tettigarcta

Tettigarcta tomentosa aka Tasmanian Hairy Cicada

There are two families of cicadas, Cicadidae (most cicadas) and Tettigarctidae (only two species). The two species in the Tettigarctidae family are Tettigarcta crinita, of southern Australia, and Tettigarcta tomentosa, of Tasmania. Cicadas of the family Tettigarctidae have ancestral morphology, similar to fossilized cicadas1. They are known for their hairy appearance.

Here are some morphological differences between the two cicada families:

family Tettigarcta Cicadidae
Tymbal (Makes the cicada’s noise) poorly developed in both sexes well developmed in males
Tympana (listening apparatus) no yes
Pronotum (covers the dorsal area of the thorax) expands over mesonotum ends at pronotal collar
Pronotal collar (separates pronotum from mesonotum) no yes
Cruciform elevation (an X-shaped structure on mesonotum) no yes

1See Allen F. Sanborn’s document Overview of Cicada Morphology for more information.

Here’s a photo of the Tettigarcta tomentosa from different angles (click the image for a closer view):

Tettigarctidae sp.

Tasmanian Hairy Cicada sightings on iNaturalist.

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Edward Johnson Hemisciera U.S.A. William T. Davis

A day at the Staten Island Museum

I spent most of the day at the Staten Island Museum. The Staten Island Museum has North America’s largest collection of cicadas — over 35,000 specimens!!! Most, if not all the specimens came from William T. Davis’ personal collection. Davis was a naturalist and entomologist located in Staten Island, NY, who was active in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Read more about the collection.

The museum is currently working on a huge cicada exhibit and many cicada events throughout the year. The They’re Baaack! Return of the 17-year Cicada Family Day event will happen in a few weeks.

Here’s a few shots of the museum and the collection I took with my camera phone:

Part of their giant Wall of Insects:

Wall of Insects

Number 39 in that photo is Hemisciera maculipennis, aka the “stop and go cicada”. When alive the cicada’s coloring is green and red, like a traffic signal. Here is a photo of a live H. maculipennis.

Tibicen and Cicada Killer Wasps:

Tibicen and cicada killer wasps

Tacua speciosa detail:

Tacua speciosa

A giant light-up cicada outside the museum:

Light up cicada Staten Island

Just part of the Staten Island Museum’s cicada collection

stacks of cicadas

Thanks to Ed Johnson, Director of Science, for showing me many of amazing specimens in the museum’s collection.

Bonus: You can download a copy of William T. Davis’ document North American Cicadas. It’s free!

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Books Michel Boulard Thailand

The Cicadas of Thailand, Vol.2. Coming Soon?

It looks like there’s a new The Cicadas of Thailand book out (or coming out soon).

ISBN 978-974-480-165-4
WL Order Code 22 645
Bangkok 2011
Boulard, Michel; The Cicadas of Thailand, Vol.2. Taxonomy and Sonic Ethology
White Lotus Press

Looks like it will be for sale here.

Cicadas of Thailand 2

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Turkey

Cicadidae of Turkey

I found an interesting document on Archive.org called Centre for Entomological Studies Ankara, Cesa News Nr. 55 (January 30, 2010) by authors Muhabbet Kemal and Ahmet Omer Kocak.

This document describes several cicadas native to the Republic of Turkey, including Tibicina serhadensis, a cicada adapted to colder, mountainous, subapline-apline regions. T. serhadensis is a hairy cicada with white wings, and orange appendages — it is quite a remarkable insect.

The document contains many full color photos.

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Indonesia Lembeja

Orange-speckled green cicada (Lembeja sp nov)



Orange-speckled green cicada (Lembeja sp nov), originally uploaded by artour_a.

A pretty green speckled cicada from North Sulawesi, Indonesia.

If you can identify the species, let us know.

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France Pop Culture Video

Ceramic Singing Cicadas from France

I received a pair of ceramic singing cicadas for Christmas. Here’s a video of what they look and sound like. They are made in France and were obtained from a restaurant in Westfield, NJ called Chez Catherine.

Cicadas are called cigale in France.

Here’s the cicada Keychain mentioned in the video.

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Allen F. Sanborn Canada U.S.A.

Two new cicada publications worth reading

Two relatively new cicada publications that should be worth reading:

1) Avian Predation Pressure as a Potential Driver of Periodical Cicada Cycle Length by Walter D. Koenig and Andrew M. Liebhold, The American Naturalist. This is a newly electronically published paper about what drives the long, prime-numbered lifecycle of Magicicada periodical cicadas.

Abstract:

The extraordinarily long life cycles, synchronous emergences at 13- or 17-year intervals, and complex geographic distribution of periodical cicadas (Magicicada spp.) in eastern North America are a long-standing evolutionary enigma. Although a variety of factors, including satiation of aboveground predators and avoidance of interbrood hybridization, have been hypothesized to shape the evolution of this system, no empirical support for these mechanisms has previously been reported, beyond the observation that bird predation can extirpate small, experimentally mistimed emergences. Here we show that periodical cicada emergences appear to set populations of potential avian predators on numerical trajectories that result in significantly lower potential predation pressure during the subsequent emergence. This result provides new support for the importance of predators in shaping periodical cicada life history, offers an ecological rationale for why emergences are synchronized at the observed multiyear intervals, and may explain some of the developmental plasticity observed in these unique insects.

Order it from JSTOR.

2) The Cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadoidea: Cicadidae) of N. America North of Mexico by Allen F. Sanborn and Maxine S. Heath. 227 pages.

A comprehensive review of the North Amerian cicada fauna that provides information on synonymies, type localities, and type material. There are 170 species and 21 subspecies found in continental N. America north of Mexico. The book has 211 figures with each species photographed in color.

Buy it from the Entomological Society of America website. I’ve already ordered mine.

I can’t wait for Sanborn’s book on Central and South America (hopefully, that will arrive within the next few years).

Update:

I’ve received Allen F. Sanborn and Maxine S. Heath’s book. It’s focus is on identifying all species of cicada fauna in North America, north of Mexico, as the title says. It also identifies species that were reported to exist in this location, but do not. The book provides maps and common attributes of each genus of cicada, and then for each species it provides photos of the holotype (and the location of the holotype), as well as a history of its taxonomy.

Categories
Chremistica Dundubia Huechys Purana Singapore

Learn about the cicadas of Singapore

Want to learn more about the cicadas of Singapore?

The National University of Singapore has six PDF documents about six species of cicadas living in Singapore. Each document contains photos of cicadas, and plenty of interesting information.

1) Record Of The Cicada, Purana usnani Duffels & Schouten In Singapore, With Preliminary Acoustic Analysis by Tzi Ming Leong (Nature In Singapore 2012 5: 13—17 Date Of Publication: 17 January 2012). Link: rmbr.nus.edu.sg/nis/bulletin2012/2012nis013-017.pdf.

This document features photos of the P. usnani as well as analysis of their songs.

A video of Purana usnani singing:

2) Oviposition By The Black And Scarlet Cicada, Huechys sanguinea (De Geer, 1773) In Singapore by Tzi Ming Leong and Ali bin Ibrahim (Nature In Singapore 2011 4: 303—306 Date Of Publication: 18 October 2011). Link: rmbr.nus.edu.sg/nis/bulletin2011/2011nis303-306.pdf.

Huechys sanguinea is a small but beautiful black and red cicada. This document features photos of an H. sanguinea ovipositing (laying eggs) in a tree branch.

Huechys sanguinea
An image of H. sanguinea, which can be found in Singapore, Thailand and other S.E. Asian countries (and often in acrylic keychains on ebay).

3) Records Of The Cicada, Chremistica umbrosa (Distant, 1904) In Singapore, With Accounts Of Its Mass Emergence by Tzi Ming Leong, Aminurashid and Benjamin P. Y-H. Lee (Nature In Singapore 2011 4: 163—175 Date Of Publication: 15 June 2011). Link: rmbr.nus.edu.sg/nis/bulletin2011/2011nis163-175.pdf.

This document features information about distribution, emergence, bio-acoustics, communal feeding, and predation.

Here’s a video of an aggregation C. umbrosa urinating and singing:

4) Records Of The Black And Golden Cicada, Huechys fusca Distant, 1892 In Singapore, With Natural History Observations by Tzi Ming Leong, Mishak Shunari, Laurence Y. K. Leong, and Sai Khoon Foo (Nature In Singapore 2011 4: 203—211 Date Of Publication: 8 July 2011). Link: rmbr.nus.edu.sg/nis/bulletin2011/2011nis203-211.pdf.

This document features information about emergence, bio-acoustics, mating, and oviposition of Huechys fusca.

A video of Huechys fusca singing:

5) Records Of The Black And Scarlet Cicada, Huechys sanguinea (De Geer) In Singapore, With Notes On Its Emergence by Ali bin Ibrahim and T. M. Leong (Nature In Singapore 2009 2: 317—322 Date Of Publication: 5 August 2009). Link: rmbr.nus.edu.sg/nis/bulletin2009/2009nis317-322.pdf.

This document features observations of Huechys sanguinea. Huechys sanguinea is a beautiful cicada.

6) The Jade-Green Cicada, Dundubia vaginata (Fabricius, 1787) In Singapore, With Notes On Emergence, Bioacoustics, And Mating by Tzi Ming Leong, Mishak Shunari, Aminurashid and Timothy D. Harvey-Samuel (Nature In Singapore 2011 4: 193—202 Date Of Publication: 5 July 2011). Link: rmbr.nus.edu.sg/nis/bulletin2011/2011nis193-202.pdf.

This document features information about emergence, bio-acoustics, and mating of Dundubia vaginata. Dundubia are known for there huge opercula (the structures on their abdomen that cover the cicada’s tympanum (tympanum are a cicada’s ear drums).