Back in the 2000’s I purchased this Halloween decoration that uses cicada sounds (Magicicada septendecim Court #2, I think) to create a spooky audio vibe. It’s a dark cloud with spiders hanging from it. Press a button and the whole thing shakes, green lights illuminate the spiders, and cicada sounds play. Gemmy.com made it, but I got it from Target.
Category: Halloween
Who knew Spirit Halloween stores (yes, in America we have large stores dedicated to Halloween costumes and party supplies) had Cicada Costumes!?
(yes, this is a meme, sorry to say)
Wow! Spirit Halloween Stores have a costume for everyone! #cicadas #SpiritHallowmeme pic.twitter.com/gPk8m2Bkza
— Cicada Mania (@cicadamania) October 29, 2022
Halloween video 2022
Here’s a short Halloween-themed (orange & black) cicada video for you. It’s just fun — nothing scientific. The video stars Neotibicen linnei, Magicicada septendecim, Neotibicen tibicen, and Neocicada hieroglyphica.
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!!
Just in time for Halloween… the Zammara a genus of cicadas with a collar like Dracula!
Andreas Kay has been posting photos of the insects of Ecuador on Flickr for around a year now. He’s posted many excellent cicada photos, particularly, photos of Zammara. They are among the most visually interesting cicadas.
Emerald Cicada, Zammara smaragdina:
Here’s an illustration from Insecta. Rhynchota. Hemiptera-Homoptera. Vol. I by W. L. Distant and The Rev Canon W. W. Fowler, F.L.S:
Here the Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadinae
Tribe: Zammarini
Genus: Zammara
Species: Zammara smaragdina Walker, 1850
Here’s an article about Collared cicadas of Mexico, Central & South America.
Cicada Halloween
Some folks will find this terrifying.