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Cyclochila australasiae
A beautiful blue-green Cicada about 75 mm long, The wings had an aqua tinge to them. The head, thorax and abdomen were a brilliant bright green. Two large compound eyes were bluish-red and the three ocelli in the middle shone like little glass orbs (pic 4). The underside of the abdomen was a pale yellow. Pic 5 shows a sharp pointy rostrum used for sucking tree sap.
Spotted under bright lights near a National Park
These cicadas remain as root-sap sucking nymphs underground for 6 years before emerging as these beautiful adults. They mate and spend their adult lives ( 6 weeks ) sucking tree sap. This spotting features a blue morph. This species vary in colour and have other common names accordingly. http://australianmuseum.net.au/Greengroc... Here is a handsome yellow version of the same species, spotted in the same area: http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/435... and the fully green one was spotted here http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/437...
3 Comments
3 down 2 to go ? :-)
Thank you Maria.
Great series, Leuba!