Cicada Mania

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

December 14, 2018

Carineta viridicata Distant, 1883

Filed under: Carineta | Carinetini | Central America | Rhynchota | W. L. Distant — Tags: — Dan @ 1:01 am

Carineta viridicata Distant, 1883, is a cicada found in Panama.

Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadettinae
Tribe: Carinetini
SubTribe: Carinetiina
Genus: Carineta
Species: Carineta viridicata Distant, 1883

Carineta viridicata species description by W. L. Distant:

Head and pronotum bright grassy green; the first with the area of the ocelli pale brownish, the eyes dark brownish. Mesonotum greenish ochraceous, with two curved darker lines at anterior margin connected near their apices by two waved lines, which form the anterior margins of a large greenish patch situate in front of the cruciform basal elevation, a lateral greenish fascia and the base rather strongly pilose. Abdomen pale ochraceous, the lateral margins slightly suffused with greenish. Body beneath and legs ochraceous, the face, opercula, and lateral margins of the abdomen pale greenish. Rostrum ochraceous, with the apex slightly pitchy. Tegmina and wings pale hyaline, the basal venation of both and the costal membrane of the first pale greenish, the apical venation more or less ochraceous.

The face is very tumid; the rostrum just passes the intermediate coxa? ; the anterior femora are armed with three strong spines, the first and longest near base, the other two near apex; the opercula are very small and obliquely rounded. The first apical area of the tegmina is twice the length of the second.

References:

  1. The illustration comes from Biologia Centrali-Americana. Insecta. Rhynchota. Hemiptera-Homoptera. Vol. 1. By W. L. Distant F.E.S. and The Rev. Canon W. W. Fowler, F.L.S. (1881-1905). Read it on the Biodiversity Heritage Library website.
  2. Species name verification comes from Allen Sanborn’s Catalogue of the Cicadoidea (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha).

December 13, 2018

Carineta trivittata Walker, 1858

Carineta trivittata Walker, 1858 is a cicada found in Mexico, Guatemala, Panama, and Costa Rica.

Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadettinae
Tribe: Carinetini
SubTribe: Carinetiina
Genus: Carineta
Species: Carineta trivittata Walker, 1858

Carineta trivittata Walker, 1858

References:

  1. The illustration comes from Biologia Centrali-Americana. Insecta. Rhynchota. Hemiptera-Homoptera. Vol. 1. By W. L. Distant F.E.S. and The Rev. Canon W. W. Fowler, F.L.S. (1881-1905). Read it on the Biodiversity Heritage Library website.
  2. Species name verification comes from Allen Sanborn’s Catalogue of the Cicadoidea (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha).

December 12, 2018

Carineta cinara Distant, 1883

Filed under: Carineta | Carinetini | Central America | Panama | Rhynchota | W. L. Distant — Tags: — Dan @ 1:01 am

Carineta cinara Distant, 1883, is a cicada found in Panama.

Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadettinae
Tribe: Carinetini
SubTribe: Carinetiina
Genus: Carineta
Species: Carineta cinara Distant, 1883

Carineta cinara Distant, 1883

Carineta cinara species description by W. L. Distant:

Body above castaneous, sparingly covered with greyish pubescence. Front of head pale ochraceous, with a central longitudinal impression. Pronotum with a central [hourglass]-shaped space, denoted and bordered by striae, on each side of which are two oblique striae, the outer one submarginal and somewhat curved. Mesonotum darker in color, with two very ill-defined discal paler fasciae; cruciform elevation at base ochraceous. Body beneath concolorous, with the face pale ochraceous. Tegmina and wings pale smoky hyaline; tegmina with a central pair of longitudinal smoky fasciae in apical areas (excluding first), those in the eighth area indistinct, and a single series of the same on outer margin.

The head, including eyes, is about equal in width to mesonotum, and narrower than base of pronotum. The face has a narrow central longitudinal sulcation, the sides are strongly transversely striated, with the interstices wide apart. The abdomen beneath has the lateral margins much raised. The anterior femora are armed with three long and strong spines, and the posterior tibiae with three inner and two outer long, slender, marginal spines. First apical area of the tegmina very much longer than the second.

References:

  1. The illustration comes from Biologia Centrali-Americana. Insecta. Rhynchota. Hemiptera-Homoptera. Vol. 1. By W. L. Distant F.E.S. and The Rev. Canon W. W. Fowler, F.L.S. (1881-1905). Read it on the Biodiversity Heritage Library website.
  2. Species name verification comes from Allen Sanborn’s Catalogue of the Cicadoidea (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha).

December 11, 2018

Carineta verna Distant, 1883

Filed under: Carineta | Carinetini | Central America | Panama | Rhynchota | W. L. Distant — Tags: — Dan @ 1:01 am

Carineta verna Distant, 1883, is a cicada found in Panama.

Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadettinae
Tribe: Carinetini
SubTribe: Carinetiina
Genus: Carineta
Species: Carineta verna Distant, 1883

Carineta verna species description by W. L. Distant:

Head with the vertex pale castaneous, the front greenish and the eyes fuscous. Pronotum green, tinged with ochraceous. Mesonotum dull ochraceous, with two faintly indicated central obconical spots at anterior margin, a small rounded black spot near each anterior branch of the cruciform basal elevation, and the basal lateral margins pale greenish. Abdomen above and beneath pale castaneous. Head and thorax beneath pale greenish ochraceous and pilose; legs ochraceous, more or less tinged with greenish, tarsal claws and the extreme apices of intermediate and posterior tibiae fuscous. Rostrum ochraceous, the apex pitchy and reaching the posterior coxae. Tegmina and wings pale hyaline, the venation greenish and ochraceous; first apical area much longer than second, and about equal in length to fourth, fifth, and sixth. Anterior femora armed beneath near apex with three prominent and distinct spines, gradually decreasing in size.

References:

  1. The illustration comes from Biologia Centrali-Americana. Insecta. Rhynchota. Hemiptera-Homoptera. Vol. 1. By W. L. Distant F.E.S. and The Rev. Canon W. W. Fowler, F.L.S. (1881-1905). Read it on the Biodiversity Heritage Library website.
  2. Species name verification comes from Allen Sanborn’s Catalogue of the Cicadoidea (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha).

December 10, 2018

Carineta aestiva Distant, 1883

Filed under: Carineta | Carinetini | Central America | Panama | Rhynchota | W. L. Distant — Tags: — Dan @ 1:01 am

Carineta aestiva Distant, 1883, is a cicada found in Panama.

Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadettinae
Tribe: Carinetini
SubTribe: Carinetiina
Genus: Carineta
Species: Carineta aestiva Distant, 1883

Carineta aestiva species description by W. L. Distant:

Head pale castaneous, very hirsute, the front ocelli and eyes ochraceous. Pronotum ochraceous tinged with greenish, the anterior and posterior margins olivaceous, the last inwardly fuscous. Mesonotum dull dark ochraceous, with two faintly indicated central obconical spots at anterior margin, two large and contiguous black spots between the anterior branches of the basal cruciform elevation, a more obscure black spot on each side of the same, and the basal lateral margins pale greenish. Abdomen above and beneath castaneous. Head and thorax beneath ochraceous and pilose; legs pale castaneous; coxae, femoral apices, and tibial bases ochraceous. Rostrum pale castaneous, the base ochraceous, the apex pitchy and reaching the posterior coxae. Tegmina and wings pale and very slightly smoky hyaline; venation ochraceous towards base, and pale fuscous towards apex; first apical area much longer than second, and about equal in length to fourth, fifth, and sixth.

The face is long, moderately convex, with a distinct narrow longitudinal sulcation and somewhat faint transverse striations. Anterior femora armed beneath and near apex with three spines, the first, long an prominent, the others small.

References:

  1. The illustration comes from Biologia Centrali-Americana. Insecta. Rhynchota. Hemiptera-Homoptera. Vol. 1. By W. L. Distant F.E.S. and The Rev. Canon W. W. Fowler, F.L.S. (1881-1905). Read it on the Biodiversity Heritage Library website.
  2. Species name verification comes from Allen Sanborn’s Catalogue of the Cicadoidea (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha).

December 9, 2018

Calyria cuna (Walker, 1850)

Filed under: Calyria | Central America | Costa Rica | Francis Walker | Parnisini | Rhynchota — Tags: — Dan @ 1:01 am

Calyria cuna (Walker, 1850) is a cicada from Central America, specifically Coasta Rica.

Scientfic classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadettinae
Tribe: Parnisini
Genus: Calyria
Species: Calyria cuna (Walker, 1850)

Calyria cuna (Walker, 1850)

References:

  1. The illustration comes from Biologia Centrali-Americana. Insecta. Rhynchota. Hemiptera-Homoptera. Vol. 1. By W. L. Distant F.E.S. and The Rev. Canon W. W. Fowler, F.L.S. (1881-1905). Read it on the Biodiversity Heritage Library website.
  2. Species name verification comes from Allen Sanborn’s Catalogue of the Cicadoidea (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha).

October 20, 2018

Cicadas that look like Dracula!

Filed under: Genera Insectorum | Halloween | Platypleurini | Rhynchota | Zammarini — Dan @ 1:01 am

Cicadas that look like Dracula!

Halloween is almost here, and so I created something special for that time of year: a poster of cicadas with pronotal collars that look like Dracula’s collar — or at least Bela Lugosi’s Dracula. Or maybe Dr. Strange?

Download the large 1.4MB version.

The image features the cicada’s species name and where it can be found. To save space, I went with the continent(s) in when the cicada is found in multiple nations or continents.

The images of cicadas come from the Genera Insectorum 1913, Genera Insectorum 1914, and Insecta. Rhynchota. Hemiptera-Homoptera. Vol. I (1881-1905). Old but classic and important documents with plenty of awesome cicada illustrations.

Happy Halloween!!

July 25, 2018

Collared cicadas of Mexico, Central & South America

Most of the information on this website is focused on cicadas of the U.S.A. and Canada. There are plenty of cicadas south of the U.S., of course. Recently we started getting identification (ID) requests for cicadas of Mexico, and with the help of experts (Geert Goemans and Allen Sanborn) and a paper from the early 20th century, I was able to ID them all.

A large number of the IDs were for cicadas with pronounced pronotal collars. Many of these look like the same species, but they’re not. Many of these species are found from Mexico, throughout Central America down to South America.

On this page are six collared cicadas that exist in Mexico, Central America and South America. Illustrations come from Insecta. Rhynchota. Hemiptera-Homoptera. Vol. I by W. L. Distant and The Rev Canon W. W. Fowler, F.L.S. I updated the names to their current names (the source is about 100 years behind the times, expectedly so). Note that the illustrations from this document are of dead specimens, so the colors were faded at the time they were illustrated.

Daza montezuma (Walker, 1850)

Formerly Odopoea montezuma. This cicada is actually tourquois to pale blue when alive. Red eyes. No infuscation (coloration) in the wings. Link to original illustration..

Daza montezuma

Zammara smaragdina Walker, 1850

Green with black infuscation in the wings.

Zammara smaragdina Walker, 1850

Here is a photo by Andreas Key (taken in Ecuador):

Emerald Cicada, Zammara smaragdina

Zammara calochroma Walker, 1858

Green with remarkable black infuscation in the wings.

Zammara calochroma Walker, 1858

Miranha imbellis (Walker, 1858)

formerly Odopoea imbellis

Miranha imbellis (Walker, 1858)

Procollina medea (Stål, 1864)

formerly Odopoea medea

Procollina medea (Stål, 1864)

Odopoea azteca Distant, 1881

Odopoea azteca Distant, 1881

References:

  • Allen F. Sanborn. Catalogue of the Cicadoidea (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha). Academic Press. 2014. 10.1016/B978-0-12-416647-9.00001-2
  • Goemans, Geert. (2010). A historical overview of the classification of the Neotropical tribe Zammarini (Hemiptera, Cicadidae) with a key to genera. ZooKeys. 43. 10.3897/zookeys.43.386.
  • This flicker gallery of cicadas with collars. I think Geert curates this.
  • W. L. Distant et al. Insecta. Rhynchota. Hemiptera-Homoptera. Vol. I (1881-1905)
  • A recent, related article by Allen: Allen F. Sanborn. 2018. The cicada genus Procollina Metcalf, 1952 (Hemiptera: Cicadidae): Redescription including fourteen new species, with a key to the species of the subtribe Dazina Kato, 1932 rev. stat., the description of the Aragualnini n. tribe, and one new combination. Zootaxa 4389(1):1. 10.11646/zootaxa.4389.1.1.

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