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Project Noah Nature School
Cyclochila australasiae
Bright orange and black with red eyes. Cyclochila australasiae was formerly commonly known as the Great Green Cicada; in addition, the various colour forms have different vernacular names, including Yellow Monday for a common yellow morph; Chocolate Soldier for a rare dark tan form; and Blue Moon for a rare turquoise form.
It is one of the loudest insects in the world.
The yellow form is indeed scarce. I've never seen one of these Rachael. Greengrocers (Cyclochila australasiae) get their color from two color pigments controlled by genes. These colors are blue and yellow together making green. Rarely only one gene is functional and its own color is then displayed. When neither gene works, the cicada is brown. This color genetics is similar in budgerigars which survive only as green in the wild. In captivity when either gene is faulty blue or yellow forms are bred. Both faulty colors results in white budgies. Nice simple science. Yay!
Spotted on Nov 25, 2007
Submitted on Oct 20, 2012
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