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February 17, 2019

French Cicada

Filed under: Cicada Mania | France | Lyristes | Tacuini (Cryptotympanini) | Tibicen — Dan @ 8:00 am

Cicada Mania has been around since 1996. It’s lived on at least five different domains (cicadamania.com is the current domain). Lots of history. Yesterday I was looking at old versions of the site on archive.org’s Wayback machine, which created archives of websites. I came across this post from 2001 and thought “these photos are not on the current site, let me upload them.

So here’s a copy of the original post, approximately 18 years later.

BTW, the cicada is Lyristes/Tibicen plebejus.

French Cicada

Cicada Experts, try to ID this French cicada!

Hello, In the south of France last week I saw a big insect. From the moment it climbed up a flower (picture 1) till the moment it became the one of picture 2 (10 hours later) I made 300 pictures with my Sony Mavica. Some questions; a) is this a cicada b) if so, whats the name c) do you know a site where I can find the sound of this species d) who could be interested in my pictures of the complete metamorphosis Greetings, H. Bakkenes Holland.

Tibicen/Lyristes plebejus

Tibicen/Lyristes plebejus

[Adding the old “back to top” cicada for fun.]

Back to top

Cicada orni Linnaeus, 1758

Filed under: Cicada | Cyprus | Egypt | France | Italy | Ivan Garcia | Spain | Turkey | Video — Dan @ 1:01 am

Cicada orni (Ash Cicada) is a cicada found in many European & Asian countries, including Spain, Turkey, Albania, Austria, Cyprus, Czechoslovakia, Egypt, France, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Romania, Switzerland, and Yugoslavia. It is also known as the Ash cicada.

Photo by Iván Jesus Torresano García taken in Spain.
Cicada orni

A video by Iván Jesus Torresano García taken in Spain.:

Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadinae
Tribe: Cicadini
SubTribe: Cicadina
Genus: Cicada
Species: Cicada orni Linnaeus, 1758

According to iNaturalist Cicada orni is around between June and August. They peak in July.

For more information about this cicada visit SONGS OF EUROPEAN SINGING CICADAS.

February 16, 2019

Callogaeana festiva festiva (Fabricius, 1803)

Callogaeana festiva festiva is a cicada found in China, Thailand, India, Laos, Malaysia, Indochina, Bhutan, and likely adjacent countries. They are part of a group of cicadas known as “butterfly cicadas” because of their colorful wings.

Photo of a Callogaeana festiva festiva (orange) by Michel Chantraine:
Callogaeana festiva festiva (orange)

Callogaeana festiva festiva (white) by Michel Chantraine:

Photos by Dan Mozgai:
Callogaeana festiva festiva

Callogaeana festiva festiva

Callogaeana festiva festiva

Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadinae
Tribe: Gaeanini
SubTribe: Gaeanina
Genus: Callogaeana
Species: Callogaeana festiva festiva (Fabricius, 1803)

Note: there is another sub-species of Callogaeana festiva, but it is not named.

Here is a description of this cicada from A Monograph of Oriental Cicadas by W. L. Distant. 1889-1892. Read it on the Biodiversity Heritage Library website.

Male: Body above black; ocelli, eyes and a broad fascia behind them reddish-ochraceous; margins of pronotum and four discal fasciae to mesonotum— of which the two central ones are angulated and connected with the anterior angle at the basal cruciform elevation — greenish-ochraceous. Body beneath and legs lack; apical half of face and a spot between face and eyes reddish-ochraceous.

Tegmina greenish-ochraceous; the radial area, a transverse fascia crossing center from the apex of the radial area, near which is a large triangular spot, apex, and outer and inner margins, and two small spots near the base, blackish. The black area at the apex is more or less broken, sometimes including a small greenish-ochraceous spot. Wings pale bluish-green; the apex broadly black — containing a pale bluish spot — and the margin continued more narrowly black to anal angle.

The face is coarsely transversely striate, and broadly sulcated at the base.

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

A nice comparison of Gaeana & Callogaeana:

February 15, 2019

Becquartina versicolor Boulard, 2005

Filed under: Becquartina | Gaeanini | Michel Boulard | Michel Chantraine | Thailand — Dan @ 1:01 am

Becquartina versicolor is a cicada found in Thailand. They are part of a group of cicadas known as “butterfly cicadas” because of their colorful wings.

Becquartina versicolor photo by Michel Chantraine:
Becquartina versicolor Boulard, 2005

Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadinae
Tribe: Gaeanini
SubTribe: Becquartinina
Genus: Becquartina
Species: Becquartina versicolor Boulard, 2005

February 14, 2019

Becquartina electa (Jacobi, 1902)

Filed under: Arnold Jacobi | Becquartina | China | Gaeanini | Michel Chantraine | Thailand | Vietnam — Dan @ 1:01 am

Becquartina electa is a cicada found in China, Thailand, and Vietnam. They are part of a group of cicadas known as “butterfly cicadas” because of their colorful wings.

Photo by Michel Chantraine:
Becquartina electa

Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadinae
Tribe: Gaeanini
SubTribe: Becquartinina
Genus: Becquartina
Species: Becquartina electa (Jacobi, 1902)

February 13, 2019

Ayuthia spectabile Distant, 1919

Filed under: Ayuthia | Ayuthiini | Malaysia | Thailand | Tosenini | Vietnam | W. L. Distant — Dan @ 1:01 am

Ayuthia spectabile is a cicada found in Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Female Ayuthia spectabile:
Ayuthia spectabile Distant, 1919

Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadinae
Tribe: Ayuthiini (formerly Tosenini)*
Subtribe: Ayuthiina
Genus: Ayuthia
Species: Ayuthia spectabile Distant, 1919

* The tribe changed in 2021. See: Hill Kathy B. R., Marshall David C., Marathe Kiran, Moulds Maxwell S., Lee Young June, Pham Thai-Hong, Mohagan Alma B., Sarkar Vivek, Price Benjamin W., Duffels J. P., Schouten Marieke A., de Boer Arnold J., Kunte Krushnamegh, Simon Chris (2021) The molecular systematics and diversification of a taxonomically unstable group of Asian cicada tribes related to Cicadini Latreille, 1802 (Hemiptera:Cicadidae). Invertebrate Systematics 35, 570-601. https://doi.org/10.1071/IS20079

February 12, 2019

Auritibicen kyushyuensis (Kato, 1926)

Filed under: Auritibicen | Japan | Masayo Kato | Osamu Hikino | Tacuini (Cryptotympanini) — Dan @ 1:01 am

Auritibicen kyushyuensis is found in Japan and is known as Kyushu-ezo-zemi.

Auritibicen kyushyuensis photo by Osamu Hikino:
Photo by Osamu Hikino

Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadinae
Tribe: Cryptotympanini
SubTribe: Cryptotympanina
Genus: Auritibicen (formerly Lyristes and Tibicen)
Species: Auritibicen kyushyuensis (Kato, 1926)

For more information about this cicada, visit Cicadae in Japan.

February 11, 2019

Auritibicen japonicus

There are ten sub-species of Auritibicen japonicus. They are found in Japan and known as Ezo-zemi.

Photo of a male Auritibicen japonicus by Osamu Hikino.
photo by Osamu Hikino

Photo of an Auritibicen japonicus by Osamu Hikino:
Lyristes japonicus by Osamu Hikino_001

Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadinae
Tribe: Cryptotympanini
SubTribe: Cryptotympanina
Genus: Auritibicen (formerly Lyristes and Tibicen)
Subspecies:

  1. Auritibicen japonicus echigo Kato, 1936
  2. Auritibicen japonicus hooshianus (Matsumura, 1936)
  3. Auritibicen japonicus immaculatus Kato, 1933
  4. Auritibicen japonicus interruptus Kato, 1943
  5. Auritibicen japonicus itoi Kato, 1939
  6. Auritibicen japonicus iwaoi Kato, 1939
  7. Auritibicen japonicus japonicus (Kato, 1925)
  8. Auritibicen japonicus kobayashii Kato, 1939
  9. Auritibicen japonicus niger Kato, 1933
  10. Auritibicen japonicus nigrofasciatus Kato, 1940

For more information about this cicada, visit Cicadae in Japan.

February 10, 2019

Huechys sanguinea

Filed under: Borneo | Burma | China | Cicadettini | Huechys | India | Indonesia | Malaysia | Michel Chantraine | Sumatra | Thailand — Dan @ 1:01 am

Huechys sanguinea is a cicada found in Burma, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Thailand, and likely many other nations in Asia. There are at least 5 subspecies of this cicada. It is also known as the “medicinal cicada” because people use it as a medicine (see my translation below).

Photo by Michel Chantraine:
Huechys sanguinea

Description1:

Body and legs black; front and face to head, two large spots to mesonotum — sometimes fused and covering the whole disk — and the abdomen, sanguineous; base of abdomen narrowly black.

Tegmina black, opaque; wings shining fuscous, sometimes almost black, the interior of the anal area always paler.

Rostrum passing the intermediate coxae; face moderately compressed, and very coarsely striate.

Long. excl. tegm. Male and Female 17 to 25 millim. Exp. tegm. 43 to 65 millim.

Here’s my translation, from French, of a note about the medicinal properties of the cicada. The original text comes from A Monograph of Oriental Cicadas:

According to Dr. Fumouze, “Huechys sanguinea, the Cicada sangiunolenta d’OIivier, is a very strong [common] insect in certain provinces of China, where it is harvested for the needs [valuable medicinal properties] of the species. In China, this insect would pass into China to enjoy curative properties, and it would be used chiefly in the treatment of rabies, but its value as much as the medicine against rabies is doubtful, but its action on the genitourinary organs seems to be certain, and this is what is in the fore, if the Huechys sanguinea would not yield a particular or similar active ingredient to the cantharides, what I can say now, it is because, by the procedures used to extract Cantharidin from cantharides, I have obtained no results, perhaps I will be later after that, but my first researches have not been completely unsuccessful, because I arrived to extract from Huechys sanguinea the material which gives to the abdominous teguments of this insect their magnificent yellow-orange color. This matter, which I will call Huechys’ red, is of a color exactly like that of the abdomen of the animal, as you can see by means of a sample which I put before your eyes. Huechys sanguinea also contains, but in smaller quantities, another yellowish, hygrometric dying material. “- Btdl. Soc. Ent. Fr. 1888, pp. xxii., xxiii.

TL;DR = “People use it to treat rabies, but it’s doubtful it actually works as a rabies treatment. It does work for its ‘Viagra-like’ properties. And its red pigment can be extracted.”

Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadettinae
Tribe: Cicadettini
SubTribe: Huechysina
Genus: Huechys
Species:

  • Huechys sanguinea hainanensis Kato, 1931
  • Huechys sanguinea philaemata (Fabricius, 1803)
  • Huechys sanguinea sanguinea (Degeer, 1773)
  • Huechys sanguinea suffusa Distant, 1888
  • Huechys sanguinea wuchangensis Liu, 1940

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).
  3. 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

February 4, 2019

Exeirus lateritius: Australian Cicada Killer Wasp

Filed under: Australia | Cicada Killer Wasps — Dan @ 4:57 am

Australia has a Cicada Killer Wasp: Exeirus lateritius. It belongs to the same family, Crabronidae, as American Cicada Killer Wasps. Dr. Lindsay Popple says “They go for the big ones like Thopha [Drummer cicadas], Cyclochila [Green Grocers, Yellow Mondays]”.

This was provided by Gary Warner, and was taken by Jeff Doring.
Exeirus lateritius

This photo of an empty-handed Cicada Killer heading back to its burrow is by Gary Warner.
empty handed wasp returns to burrow

Here is a video from YouTube. According to the video description, they are also known as Ground Digger Wasps.

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