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Platypleura techowi
Can you spot the cicada? The sound did reveal its place on the tree trunk... Thank you to Martin H Villet for the ID
Skukuza base camp in the evening.
There are a few connections between cicadas and Christmas. Cicadas are typically active around Christmas in the Southern hemisphere. Cicadas are called Christmas Beetles in Southern Africa. How do these small insects produce that deafening sound and for what purpose? Well, the interesting thing about these noisy bugs is that only the males are calling. The reason? Well, to attract females of course. Each species has its own distinctive call and only attracts females of its own kind even though rather similar species may co-exist. The apparatus used by cicadas for producing the sound is quite complex and differ completely from insects such as crickets and grasshoppers in which sound is produced by means of stridulation, when different body parts are rubbed together.
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Wow, great camouflage!