Description of “Dundubia mellea, n. sp. ? or D. rufivena, var. ?” specimens from A Monograph of Oriental Cicadas:
[male] Head, pronotum and mesonotum brownish-ochraceous, ocelli pale ochraceous, eyes pale castaneous; front with some obscure black lateral striae; mesonotum with two short faint central obconical spots, and a larger obconical spot on each lateral area; base of cruciform elevation dark castaneous; abdomen above and beneath and the opercula golden-yellow, margins of the opercula more or less shaded with black; head beneath, sternum and legs dull ochraceous, tibiae and tarsi pale castaneous.
Tegmina and wings pale hyaline, the first with the costal membrane and basal portion of the venation bright ochraceous, remaining venation darker; wings with the venation ochraceous, in some portions, infuscated.
The rostrum extends to about the intermediate coxae; the opercula are somewhat short, concave on each side near base and rounded at apices, which about reach the base of the fifth abdominal segment; anterior femora and posterior tibiae spined.
References:
The illustration, description and location information comes from A Monograph of Oriental Cicadas by W. L. Distant. 1889-1892. Read it on the Biodiversity Heritage Library website.
Cryptotympana atrata was formerly named Cryptotympana sinensis.
.
Photo by Jon Allen in Yeouido park in Seoul in South Korea.
(Cryptotympana sinensis) species description from A Monograph of Oriental Cicadas by W.L. Distant:
[Male] Head ochraceous; front with the margins (but not meeting at apex) broadly castaneous; eyes olivaceous; ocelli reddish-ochraceous, with their surrounding area castaneous. Pronotum castaneous, the margins and a central fascia, which is much widened and ampliated at base, ochraceous. Mesonotum ochraceous, with two large obconical castaneous spots near each lateral margin and two large, central, very obscure obconical spots, which are only visible by their slightly darker margins; basal cruciform elevation pale olivaceous. Abdomen above ochraceous, the posterior segmental margins castaneous. Body beneath and legs ochraceous; face with the lateral carinae castaneous; apices of the tibiae and tarsi castaneous.
Tegmina pale hyaline, the venation ochraceous, the costal membrane pale greenish, and the basal third of the tegminal area tinged with pale ochraceous. Wings pale hyaline, the venation ochraceous, and the base narrowly tinged with pale ochraceous.
The face is tumid, the lateral carina robust and slightly waved; the rostrum extends to the intermediate coxae; the opercula are somewhat short, with their lateral margins slightly concave and their posterior margins oblique, they overlap at the center, and their apices extend to about the second abdominal segment.
The illustration, description and location information comes from A Monograph of Oriental Cicadas by W. L. Distant. 1889-1892. Read it on the Biodiversity Heritage Library website.
[Male] Head pronotum and mesonotum ochraceous. Head: front with a triangular black spot near base and transverse black striae. which do not meet in the centre; vertex with two large oblique and irregular black fasciae. on disk, and a large irregular black spot on inner margin of eyes. Pronotum with two central longitudinal black fasciae, and three oblique black striae on each side the outer one submarginal and somewhat rounded. Mesonotum with a large central clavate spot, of which the apex terminates on anterior margin, bordered on each side by a subconical spot, followed by a small triangular one and a large submarginal fascia, black. Abdomen dull sanguineous, with a series of discal segmental black fasciae (they are much larger in some specimens and subconfluent). and a lateral segmental row of irregular spots. Body beneath with the sternum ochraceous, covered with greyish pubescence.
Abdomen dull sanguineous; opercula pale sanguineous; legs ochraceous.
Tegmina and wings pale hyaline.
Front very prominent and convex; head, including eyes, narrower than base of pronotum, subequal to mesonotum in width. Opercula subtriangular. well separated at base, gradually becoming more divergent, and narrowing to apex, which is obtuse, and reaches the fourth abdominal segment. Anterior femora armed with three spines; two moderately large and ochraceous, apical one small and black. Posterior tibiae with three black spines on inner side near apex, and two smaller and wider apart on outer margin.
The illustration, description and location information comes from A Monograph of Oriental Cicadas by W. L. Distant. 1889-1892. Read it on the Biodiversity Heritage Library website.
Species (Cosmopsaltria majuscula) description from A Monograph of Oriental Cicadas by W.L. Distant:
Body above warm-ochraceous. Head with the front, — excepting base and apex, — the area of the ocelli, and a larger spot on inner margin of eyes, dark castaneous; eyes ochraceous, with their inner area olivaceous. Pronotum with a broad central longitudinal castaneous fascia and a small castaneous spot near anterior lateral margin. Mesonotum with five blackish fasciae, the central one very slender and joining a triangular fascia in front of basal cruciform elevation, on each side of the central fascia is a short and broader one, and the lateral fasciae are long, broad and slightly curved. Abdomen above ochraceous. Body beneath ochraceous; the face blackish, with a central ochraceous spot near anterior margin, and a black marginal spot between eyes and face; legs pale castaneous, the inner margins of anterior femora blackish, anterior and intermediate tibiae and tarsi somewhat darker castaneous, the posterior tarsi ochraceous.
Tegmina and wings pale hyaline, the venation ochraceous, but becoming fuscous towards apical areas; the tegmina with the costal margin fuscous beyond base of upper ulnar area, and the transverse veins at bases of second and third apical areas infuscated.
The body is long and broad; the rostrum reaches the posterior coxae; the opercula are slender and placed widely apart, concave on each side beyond base, but very slightly so outwardly, the apices rounded and reaching the fourth abdominal segment.
References:
The illustration, description and location information comes from A Monograph of Oriental Cicadas by W. L. Distant. 1889-1892. Read it on the Biodiversity Heritage Library website.
Species description from A Monograph of Oriental Cicadas by W.L. Distant:
Head and thorax above ochraceous, with the following black markings: — Head with a central fascia to front, vertex with a central double fascia and a sinuated fascia behind each eye; pronotum with a central double fascia united at base, a large sublateral spot on each side, and a spot beneath on basal margin; mesonotum with a central longitudinal fascia, on each side of which is a short and somewhat oblique fascia, followed by a small spot on anterior margin and a broad, sublateral, irregular fascia, and a spot in front of each anterior angle of the basal cruciform elevation. Abdomen purplish red, the posterior segmental margins ochraceous, excepting those near apes, which are piceous, and with a central discal piceous spot near base. Head beneath with the anterior margin black and a central piceous spot near apex of face. Opercula ochraceous, with apices and inner margins broadly black; apex of abdomen beneath black.
Tegmina and wings pale hyaline, the venation more or less fuscous ; tegmina with the costal membrane castaneous, the transverse veins at the bases of the second and third apical areas infuscated.
The face is convex, with a central longitudinal incision, which neither reaches base nor apex. The opercula are long and broad, concavely sinuated on their outer margins near base, and with their apices obtusely rounded and about reaching the apical abdominal segment. Rostrum mutilated.
The illustration, description and location information comes from A Monograph of Oriental Cicadas by W. L. Distant. 1889-1892. Read it on the Biodiversity Heritage Library website.
Species description from A Monograph of Oriental Cicadas by W.L. Distant:
Dilute olivacea ; fascia lata verticem fere totum occupante, fronte inter rugas, basi vittaque media exceptis, fascia genarum, loris, basi excepta, lateribus clypei, rostro apicem versus, vittis sex, lateralibus obliquis, disci antici thoracis, maculis quattuor oblongo-obtriangularibus anterioribus, lateralibus ultra medium extensis, lituraque litteram T reversam (x) simulante discoidali scutelli, dorso abdominis, apice coxarum posteriorum, vitta trochanterum, femoribus anticis subtus, tibiis apice superne, tibiis anterioribus interdum fere totis, tarsis totis vel basi et apice nigris; tegminibus alisque vitreis, interdum obsolete subinfuscatis, venis olivaceis, apicem versus obscurioribus, vena postcostali, raro ulnari, postcostali, interdum etiam costa posterius nigris ; segmento dorsali anali maris olivaceo-flavescente.
[Male] Operculis distincte nounihil longioribus quam latioribus, retrorsum sensim distincte angustatis, apice subsemicirculariter rotundatis, prope basin contiguis, baud tamen valvantibus, dein sensim divaricatis, olivaceo-flavescentibus, intus ssepius nigricantibus.
References:
The illustration, description and location information comes from A Monograph of Oriental Cicadas by W. L. Distant. 1889-1892. Read it on the Biodiversity Heritage Library website.
Species description from A Monograph of Oriental Cicadas by W.L. Distant:
Body black; eyes castaneous; anterior, lateral, and posterior margins of pronotum (the first narrowly), and an abbreviated, central, narrow, longitudinal fascia to same, posterior margin of metanotum, head beneath (excluding face), sternum and opercula pale greenish-ochraceous; legs and rostrum black. Body more or less clothed with greyish pile, especially at the lateral margins of the mesonotum and the base and segmental margins of the abdomen.
Tegmina semihyaline and of a pale shining bronzy hue, the venation darker and either ochraceous or greenish, the costal membrane pale greenish; the extreme base and the veins enclosing the postcostal area black; the veins enclosing the two uppermost apical areas, the terminal vein of the lower ulnar area, and the outer margin dark bronzy. Wings pale bluish-green, becoming pale bronzy towards apex, the outer margin dark bronzy.
The opercula are broad and divergent, their outer margins convex, their inner margins oblique, their apices obtusely angulated and not reaching the middle of the abdomen. The rostrum about reaches the posterior coxae.
References:
The illustration, description and location information comes from A Monograph of Oriental Cicadas by W. L. Distant. 1889-1892. Read it on the Biodiversity Heritage Library website.
The image says Tettigia pennata, but the newest name of this cicada is Cicada pennata.
Species description by W. L. Distant:
Head, pronotum, and mesonotum greenish. Head with the frontal marginal angles, a transverse streak on lateral margins, inner margin of eyes, and area of the ocelli black; ocelli red. Mesonotum with a central longitudinal suboblong spot, rounded posteriorly and angulated anteriorly, on each side of this a short oblique streak behind eyes, and a D-shaped spot near each lateral margin black. Mesonotum with four large, central, and somewhat irregular black-bordered obconical spots, a black spot on each lateral margin, and two small spots of the same colour in front of the basal cruciform elevation. Abdomen above dull testaceous, with the basal angles and anal appendage greenish, somewhat thickly clothed with white pile. Body beneath greenish; transverse striae to face, bases and apices of coxse, apex of rostrum, segmental incisures, and inner margins of anal appendage black. Legs greenish, apices of femora black, apices of tibiae and tarsi dull testaceous, tarsal claws black. Tegmina pale hyaline. Neuration of basal half greenish, remainder fuscous ; base of first ulnar area, transverse vein at base of second ulnar area, a central spot on the longitudinal vein enclosing third ulnar area, and transverse vein at base of eighth apical area, and claval margin black ; a prominent white opaque spot at base of first ulnar area. Anastomoses, and a submarginal row of spots situated on veins, pale fuscous. Wings pale hyaline; veins fuscous, with some of the discal ones greenish.
The face is globose, strongly and transversely striate, with a central longitudinal sulcation; rostrum reaching the posterior coxae; head small, with the eyes very globose, and much narrower than base of pronotum.
Long. 17 millim., exp. of tegm. 66 millim.
References:
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.
Quesada gigas (Olivier, 1790) Is a cicada found in the United States (Texas), Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Guyana, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Tobago, Trinidad, and Venezuela. It is the largest cicada in these locations.
Quesada gigas from Brazil, Photo by Leonardo Milhomem.
The image says Tympanoterpes gigas but its newest name is Quesada gigas.
Species description notes from Insect. Rhynchota.:
Stal treated this species as a synonym of T. grossa, Fabr. The type of the Fabrician species, however, is in the Banksian collection contained in the British Museum, and is very distinct, the opercula being large and rounded.
The figure given in the Encyclopedic Methodique is, like Stal’s, useless for any practical purpose. Among the habitats of this wide-ranging species is that given by Walker 2, ” West coast of America,” which, as before remarked in connexion with other species, seems clearly to refer to Central America. The forms inhabiting this region (of which a Guatemalan specimen is figured) appear to be somewhat smaller than more southern specimens, or do not exhibit the gigantic specimens which are frequently and commonly received from the southern portion of the Neotropical Region.
Mr. Gervase F. Mathew (Ent. Mo. Mag. xi. p. 175) gives some interesting details relating to this insect as observed at Tobago. As regards its powers of stridulation he writes of a ” tropical afternoon: ” — ” Suddenly, from right above, you hear one or two hoarse, monotonous cries something like the croak of a tree-frog, and, looking upwards, wonder what it can be. But wait a moment ; this is merely a signal ; for the next minute everywhere above and around you these croaks are repeated in rapid and increasing succession until they merge into a long shrill whistle almost exactly similar to the whistle of a first-rate locomotive ; this continues for nearly half a minute, and then abruptly terminates.” ” Presently similar cries will be heard in the far distance, as if in reply to those which have just died away overhead. The whistling pierces one’s ears to such a degree that its vibrations can be felt long after it has ceased.”
Mr. Mathew describes this species as frequenting trees growing in ravines where the soil is generally soft and damp, in which their larvae and pupae find no difficulty in burrowing. ” When the latter are full-grown and ready for their last transformation, they emerge from the ground and crawl about four or five feet up the trunk of a tree, when they firmly fix themselves to the bark by means of their powerfully hooked fore tibiae.” ” The flight of the mature Cicada is abrupt, rapid, and by no means graceful ; and it does not appear to have the power of controlling itself when on the wing ; for I have often seen it fly in an insane manner against the trunk of a tree, a branch, or any other object that might be in its line of flight; and when it has performed its journey without any accident, it alights abruptly and awkwardly. As a rule, however, it does not attempt to fly to any great distance at a time.”
Resources:
The Giant Cicada / Chicharra Grande page on the Texas Entomology websites is a very good resource, particularly in relation to the state of Texas.
References:
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.
Common names: BugGuide.net; The Songs of Insects by Lang Elliott and Wil Herschberger; personal memory.
Locations: Biogeography of the Cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) of North America, North of Mexico by Allen F. Sanborn and Polly K. Phillips.
Descriptions, Colors: personal observations from specimens or photos from many sources. Descriptions are not perfect, but may be helpful.
Tribe information comes from: MARSHALL, DAVID C. et al.A molecular phylogeny of the cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) with a review of tribe and subfamily classification.Zootaxa, [S.l.], v. 4424, n. 1, p. 1—64, may 2018. ISSN 1175-5334. Available at: https://www.biotaxa.org/Zootaxa/article/view/zootaxa.4424.1.1
Notes:
Some descriptions are based on aged specimens which have lost some or a lot of their color.
Comments Off on Quesada gigas (Olivier, 1790) aka Giant Cicada
Note from David Marshall in the comments: “This genus has been moved to the tribe Lamotialnini (see Marshall et al. 2018). Interestingly, that makes it the closest known relative of Magicicada in the Americas.”
The image says Tibicen guatemalenus, but its newest name is Chrysolasia guatemalena.
Species description by W. L. Distant:
Obscure castaneous, somewhat thickly covered with ochraceous pilosity. Area of the ocelli, a central fascia to pronotum (which is ampliated and produced on each side at anterior and posterior margins), some obscure and irregular spots on mesonotum with cruciform elevation at base, and abdomen above fuscous. Body beneath much paler and very densely pilose; head, sternum, and opercula ashy grey; abdomen pale ochraceous. Tegmina pale hyaline; costal membrane, basal area, and claval base pale castaneous; veins pale fuscous. Wings pale hyaline ; veins and suffusion at abdominal area pale fuscous.
Head, including outer margin of eyes, broader than pronotum; face with a broad central longitudinal sulcation and somewhat faintly transversely striate; rostrum not quite reaching posterior coxae; opercula reaching base of second abdominal segment, narrowest at base, with the outer margins truncate, widened and rounded posteriorly, but not quite meeting inwardly.
Long. 20 millim., exp. tegm. 57 millim.
References:
The illustration, location and description 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.
We use cookies on CicadaMania.com to provide you with an excellent user experience. We will assume that you are agreeing to our Privacy Policy if you continue accessing our site.
