Cicada Mania

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

January 16, 2010

New URLs for the University of Florida sites

Filed under: News — Dan @ 11:22 am

Looks like the University of Florida sites have new URLs.

Singing Insects of North America (http://www.entnemdept.ufl.edu/walker/buzz/)

Cicadas (of Florida), Neocicada hieroglyphica (Say), Tibicen, Diceroprocta and Melampsalta spp.

November 1, 2009

The Bibliography of the Cicadoidea has moved

Filed under: News — Dan @ 6:49 pm

I want to let you all know that Tim McNary’s Bibliography of the Cicadoidea has moved to a new URL. The new URL is http://www.tmcnary.com/CicadaBibliography.htm.

February 19, 2009

Cyphonia trifida (Membracidae), Venezuela

Filed under: News — Dan @ 10:23 pm

This is not a cicada, but it looks like one, right? Like a cicada from Mars. This is a Treehopper (Membracidae). They belong to the same Order/Suborder & Infraorder as Cicadas (more info on the Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Membracidae)

November 27, 2008

Tettigades chilensis: one fuzzy cicada

Filed under: News — Dan @ 10:37 pm


Tettigades chilensis, originally uploaded by Juan Emilio –.

Look that this fuzzy cicada I spotted on Flickr. Remarkable Tettigades chilensis.

December 7, 2007

Misc. Cicada Stuff

Filed under: News — Dan @ 11:50 pm

There’s another copy of the Cicada Do Brazil Video on the Metacafe website.

tigerbeatlefreak has photos of Okanagana synodica, Tibicen lyricen, Beameria venosa and other cicadas on Flickr.

August 17, 2007

Collecting and Photographing Cicadas

Filed under: News — Dan @ 12:47 pm

Gerry Bunker has published an online guide to Pinning, Labeling and Preserving Your Cicadas. This is excellent information if you plan to start a collection.

Over the years Roy Troutman has supplied Cicada Mania with many excellent macro photos of cicadas. Fans of macro photography will also appreciate these photos by Todd Quinn, and Vic Fazio’s Tibicen dorsatus.

And just for the heck of it, here’s a list of insect ID websites:

Bug Guide, Insect Identification, What’s that Bug.

Normally I can get the ID of a cicada fairly quickly, thanks to folks like Gerry and Paul Krombholz. Aside from Locusts, the insect most people confuse with cicadas is the Sphinx Moth.

May 26, 2007

Assorted Cicada Stuff

Filed under: Japan | News — Dan @ 8:45 am

A quick break in the Brood XIII action:

A website about Japanese cicadas (Semi). It’s interesting to see all the different varieties of cicadas that exist around the world.

Many, many photos of Japanese cicadas thanks to Google photo search.

April 28, 2007

Protecting your (wimpy) trees from cicadas

Filed under: News — Dan @ 9:50 am

As you may have heard, cicadas can damage small trees (like wimpy ornamentals) as they lay their eggs in the branches. The Chicago Sun-Times has a good article titled Arbor Day takes cover against cicada swarm, that will give folks with wimpy trees strategies for dealing with the upcoming emergence. If you’re concerned, read the article.

Tips:

  • Use netting to protect trees. If you start looking now, you can probably find some at a local garden supply store. Beat the rush.
  • Delay plantings until July.
  • Don’t use pesticides. It isn’t worth it. Bee populations are in bad shape so we don’t want to do any collateral damage to other species. After 11 years of running this web site, I’ve heard a few stories about family pets dying after consuming pesticide covered cicadas or grass. Don’t do it!
  • Spray them off with a garden hose.
  • Foil around the trunk (to keep them from crawling up).
  • Insect barrier tape.
  • Bagpipes (no joke, it worked at my friend’s wedding).
  • Native species of trees, like oak and maples, fare much better against cicadas because they’ve co-evolved for 100’s of centuries. Wimpy ornamentals from Asia fare a lot worse. Plant only proud, American trees.

Big, strong trees will see some damage, but they take it in stride:

Periodical Cicada Flagging

August 16, 2006

Cicada knocks man off bike

Filed under: News — Dan @ 6:02 am

From an article on the CHINAdaily news site: Cicada knocks man off bike.

Wang was riding a bicycle when he spotted two boys catching cicadas. He rang his bell, warning the boys to stay away, which scared the boys as well as a cicada on the tree. The frightened cicada flew toward Wang at high speed and knocked him off his bicycle. Physical check-ups in a hospital indicated that Wang had bruises all over his body and had three broken ribs because of the fall

Thanks to Roy Troutman for passing along the article.

July 16, 2006

Cicada Central

Filed under: News — Dan @ 5:19 am

All cicada maniacs should be familiar with the Cicada Central website. Their URL has changed to http://hydrodictyon.eeb.uconn.edu/projects/cicada/. Update your bookmarks.

Here’s a newer website circa 2020 wp.chris-simon-lab.eeb.uconn.edu.

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