Guardian Nature School Team Contact Blog Project Noah Facebook Project Noah Twitter

A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife

Join Project Noah!
nature school apple icon

Project Noah Nature School visit nature school

Cicada

Family Cicadidae

Description:

The adult insect, known as an imago, is 2 to 5 centimetres (0.79–1.97 in) in total length in most species. The "singing" of male cicadas is not stridulation such as many familiar species of insects produce — for example crickets. Instead male cicadas have a noisemaker called a tymbal below each side of the anterior abdominal region. The tymbals are structures of the exoskeleton formed into complex membranes with thin, membranous portions and thickened ribs. Contraction of internal muscles buckles the tymbals inwards, producing a click; on relaxation of the muscles the tymbals return to their original position, producing another click. The male abdomen is largely hollow, and acts as a sound box. By rapidly vibrating these membranes a cicada combines the clicks into apparently continuous notes, and enlarged chambers derived from the tracheae serve as resonance chambers, with which it amplifies the sound

Habitat:

Seen during a night trail near a farm.

Notes:

Better quality pic at : https://www.flickr.com/photos/satyenmeht...

Species ID Suggestions



Sign in to suggest organism ID

No Comments

Wild Things
Spotted by
Wild Things

Thane, Maharashtra, India

Spotted on Aug 19, 2014
Submitted on Aug 25, 2014

Related Spottings

Spotting Crab spider Treehopper Linx spider

Nearby Spottings

Jumping Spider Banded Phintella Orb-Weaver Spider Robber Fly

Reference

Noah Guardians
Noah Sponsors
join Project Noah Team

Join the Project Noah Team