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Dundubiini India Mata Vivek Sarkar

Three new species of cicadas from Meghalaya, India

Three new species of cicadas have been discovered in Meghalaya, India:
Mata meghalayana, Mata lenonia, and Mata ruffordii.

Mata cicadas  Vivek Sarkar
Photo courtesy of Vivek Sarkar.

Access the paper on Research Gate or Zootaxa Vol 4908, No 1.

Paper title: Description of three new species of the genus Mata Distant, 1906 (Hemiptera: Cicadidae: Cicadinae: Oncotympanini) with notes on their natural history from the Indian state of Meghalaya, India

Authors: Vivek Sarkar, Cuckoo Mahapatra, Pratyush P. Mohapatra, Manoj V. Nair, Krushnamegh Kunte

Abstract: “Three new species of the Asian genus Mata Distant, 1906 (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) viz. Mata lenonia sp.nov.; Mata ruffordii sp.nov. and Mata meghalayana sp.nov. are described from the Indian state of Meghalaya. Keys and taxonomic descriptions of these species are provided with detailed accounts of their natural history and acoustics.”

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Dundubia Dundubiini Santisuk Vibul Thailand

Tymbals of the cicada of Genus Dundubia

Tymbals of the cicada of Genus Dundubia by Santisuk Vibul. Thailand. 2008.

Tymbals of the cicada of Genus Dundubia, Bangkok, Thailand, 2008 by Santisuk Vibul Click the photos for larger versions Adult male cicada, Genus: Dundubia, Species: unidentified. Photo Taken: 19 March 2008. Adult male cicada, Genus: Dundubia, Species: unidentified. Photo Taken: 19 March 2008. Left tymbal after removing fore-wing, hind-wing and operculum.Note: Photos were taken from the dissected fresh specimen just after dead. Dissection was performed after putting the cicada into 70 percent methyl alcohol for 5 minutes. Left tymbal after removing fore-wing, hind-wing and operculum. Note: Photos were taken from the dissected fresh specimen just after dead. Dissection was performed after putting the cicada into 70 percent methyl alcohol for 5 minutes. The removed tymbal. The removed tymbal. Right operculum has been moved downward to show the right tymbal Right operculum has been moved downward to show the right tymbal. (The same cicada as above)

Tymbals of the cicada of Genus Dundubia by Santisuk Vibul. Thailand. 2008.

Tymbals of the cicada of Genus Dundubia by Santisuk Vibul. Thailand. 2008.

Tymbals of the cicada of Genus Dundubia by Santisuk Vibul. Thailand. 2008.

Tymbals of the cicada of Genus Dundubia by Santisuk Vibul. Thailand. 2008.

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Dundubia Dundubiini Santisuk Vibul

Adult female cicada, Genus Dundubia, showing Tympanal cover

Adult female cicada, Genus Dundubia, showing Tympanal cover. Photo and text by Santisuk Vibul.

Adult female cicadas have perceptive organ ie. Tympana or Ear drums which are mirror-like membranes. The tympana of adult female cicadas are much more smaller than that of the males because they are less developed. The tympana of the female cicadas (shown on the above photo) function as a perceptive organ to percept the calls of the male cicadas from the distance and also function as a shield to protect their tympana like the opercula of the male cicadas.

Adult female cicada, Genus Dundubia, showing Tympanal cover

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Dundubia Dundubiini Malaysia Photos & Illustrations

Dundubia vaginata (Fabricis, 1787) with missing abdomen

Dundubia vaginata (Fabricis, 1787) with a missing abdomen. The photo was taken in Malaysia. The photographer wishes to be anonymous.

Dundubia vaginata (Fabricis, 1787) with a missing abdomen. The photo was taken in Malaysia. The photographer wishes to be anonymous.

Dundubia vaginata (Fabricis, 1787) with a missing abdomen. The photo was taken in Malaysia. The photographer wishes to be anonymous.

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Burma China Dundubiini India Michel Chantraine Nepal Platylomia Thailand W. L. Distant

Platylomia radah (Distant, 1881)

Platylomia radah is a cicada found in Burma, China, India, Nepal, and Thailand.

Photo by Michel Chantraine:
Platylomia radah

Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadinae
Tribe: Dundubiini
SubTribe: Dundubiina
Genus: Platylomia
Species: Platylomia radah (Distant, 1881)

For more information about this cicada, visit Cicadas of India.

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Dundubiini Malaysia Michel Boulard Michel Chantraine Orientopsaltria Thailand

Orientopsaltria beaudouini Boulard, 2003

Orientopsaltria beaudouini is a cicada found in Malasia and Thailand.

Photo by Michel Chantraine:
Orientopsaltria beaudouini Boulard, 2003

Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadinae
Tribe: Dundubiini
SubTribe: Orientopsaltriina
Genus: Orientopsaltria
Species: Orientopsaltria beaudouini Boulard, 2003

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Cambodia Dundubiini Laos Malaysia Megapomponia Michel Chantraine Nepal Thailand W. L. Distant

Megapomponia intermedia (Distant, 1905)

Megapomponia intermedia is a cicada found in Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Nepal, Malaysia, and Thailand.

Photo by Michel Chantraine:
Megapomponia intermedia

Note: the image reads Pomponia intermedia, but since the time the photograph was taken the name of the cicada has changed to Megapomponia intermedia.

Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadinae
Tribe: Dundubiini
SubTribe: Megapomponiina
Genus: Megapomponia
Species: Megapomponia intermedia (Distant, 1905)

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Cambodia Dundubiini Indonesia John O. Westwood Laos Malaysia Megapomponia Michel Chantraine Nepal Thailand

Megapomponia imperatoria (Westwood, 1842)

Megapomponia imperatoria is a cicada found in Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, and Thailand. This is the largest cicada in the world

Photo by Michel Chantraine:
Megapomponia imperatoria
Note: the photo reads “Pomponia imperatoria”, but since the time of the photograph the name of the cicada has changed.

Description 1:

Body above brownish-ochraceous, in some specimens castaneous. Head with a central longitudinal spot to the front, the area of the ocelli, a transverse spot behind eyes, and a spot at anterior angles of vertex, black. Pronotiim with two central longitudinal linear fasciae not extending beyond center — a central spot at the posterior margin — and the furrows black; posterior margin greenish, with two black spots on each side. Mesonotum with two obconical central spots, from the junction of which a longitudinal fascia extends to posterior margin, four spots in transverse series at the base, a spot on each lateral discal area, and sometimes some small spots at anterior margin black. Abdomen with the posterior margins of the abdominal segments narrowly black. Body beneath and legs brownish-ochraceous; transverse striations and the apex of the face, anterior tibiae, bases, and apical thirds of the intermediate tibiae, anterior and intermediate tarsi and the apex of the rostrum, black.

Tegmina and wings pale hyaline, the venation ochraceous. Tegmina with the costal membrane and basal cell brownish or ochraceous, the claval area ochraceous or sanguineous; the transverse veins at the bases of the second, third, fifth, and seventh apical areas infuscated and a series of fuscous marginal spots at the apices of the longitudinal veins to apical areas. Wings with the base of claval area ochraceous or sanguineous; outer margin of claval area ochraceous.

Long. excl. tegm. Male 46 to 68 millim. ; Female 41 to GO millim. Exp. tegm. Male 137 to 180 millim. ; Female, 145 to 216 millim.

This is a most variable species, both as regards size and markings. The largest specimen I have yet seen is a female in my o\vn collection from Perak, whose tegmina reach an expansion of 216 millim. In some of the smaller specimens, the body is darker, and the markings to same and the spotting of the tegmina very indistinct. There almost seem to be two races of this species, one very much smaller and somewhat less prominently marked than the other.

As I have elsewhere recorded, I captured this fine species myself, not infrequently, when sojourning in the Malay Peninsula. It often frequented the dining-room, and on holding it between the fingers its stridulation caused a thrill through the nerves of the arm.*

Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadinae
Tribe: Dundubiini
SubTribe: Megapomponiina
Genus: Megapomponia
Species: Megapomponia imperatoria (Westwood, 1842)

References:

  1. The 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.
  2. Species name information comes from Allen Sanborn’s Catalogue of the Cicadoidea (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha).
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Arnold Jacobi Burma China Dundubiini Laos Macrosemia Michel Chantraine Thailand Vietnam

Macrosemia tonkiniana (Jacobi, 1905)

Macrosemia tonkiniana is a cicada found in Burma, China, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Photo by Michel Chantraine:
Macrosemia tonkiniana (Jacobi, 1905)

Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadinae
Tribe: Dundubiini
SubTribe: Macrosemiina
Genus: Macrosemia
Species: Macrosemia tonkiniana (Jacobi, 1905)

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Burma China Dundubiini India Macrosemia Michel Chantraine Nepal Raghu Ananth Thailand W. L. Distant

Macrosemia umbrata (Distant, 1888)

Macrosemia umbrata is a cicada found in China, Burma, India, Nepal, Thailand, and likely adjacent nations.

Photo by Raghu Ananth taken in Arunachal Pradesh, India.

Macrosemia umbrata Cicada Found in Arunachal Pradesh, India by Raghu Ananth

This cicada is also known as Macrosemia chantrainei2. Here is a photo by Michel Chantraine:
Macrosemia chantrainei Boulard, 2003

Same insect?

Description (from when the cicada was known as Cosmopsaltria umbrata):

Male. Head and thorax above obscure olivaceous. Head with the lateral margins to the front, the area of the ocelli, and some irregular spots on each lateral area of the vertex black; eyes ochraceous. Pronotum with two u-regular central black fasciae, ampliated at base and apex, and with two at each lateral margin, the posterior margin with its edge narrowly black and a black spot near lateral angles. Mesonotum with two central blackish obconical spots, between which a narrow l)lack fascia extends to the base, and a black spot in front of each anterior angle of the basal cruciform elevation. Abdomen above largely suffused with dull black shadings. Body beneath olivaceous; a central fascia to face, the anterior margin between face and eyes, inner margins and apices of femora, and the tibia more or less blackish. Opercula olivaceous, their apices and a spot near base blackish. Abdomen beneath olivaceous, largely suffused with black shadings.

Tegmina and wings pale hyaline, the venation fuscous; tegmina with the base and costal membrane fuscous, the transverse veins at the bases of the second, third, fifth, and seventh apical areas and the apices of the longitudinal veins of apical areas infuscated.

The rostrum has the apex pitchy and just passing the posterior coxa; the opercula are somewhat narrowed, concavely sinuated on each side near the base, and narrowed towards apices, which are obtusely and reach the fourth abdominal segment.

Long. excl. tegm. 46 millim. Exp. tegm. 120 millim.

Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadinae
Tribe: Dundubiini
SubTribe: Macrosemiina
Genus: Macrosemia
Species: Macrosemia umbrata (Distant, 1888)

For more information about this cicada, visit Cicadas of India.

References:

  1. The 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.
  2. Species name information comes from Allen Sanborn’s Catalogue of the Cicadoidea (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha).