Bladder Cicada from Australia

bugman

January 6th, 2010 at 10:57 am

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Help needed to identify a very noisy insect!
January 6, 2010
Looks like a large green cicada and is approx. 7cm in length. However it has solid coloured wings unlike any cicada I have seen previously and has a swollen abdomen. Was making a very loud vibration noise that I initially thought was coming from an electricity transformer. Unfortunately where it was I couldn’t get a full photo.
Sarah
Sydney Australia

Bladder Cicada

Hi Sarah,
As you letter indicated, this is not an ideal photograph for identification purposes. At first we thought this must be a Katydid, and the Brisbane Insect website has a few photos of a False Leaf Katydid in the genus Mastigaphoides, family Pseudophyllinae, that didn’t look quite right. In attempting to locate additional online photographs, we stumbled upon a wonderful Conservation Report website on Leaf Mimic Animals. We suddenly remembered the Bladder Cicada, Cystosoma saundersii, and we found images that look correct on the Brisbane Insect website which states “The male Bladder Cicadas have the greatly enlarged abdomen, largely hollow. This is the resonating chamber to amplify the loudness of their songs.“ You may also listen to the call of the Bladder Cicada on the Brisbane Insect Website.

Hi Daniel,
Yes, that’s it, a Bladder Cicada! Thankyou so much for helping to identify it.
It has been driving my neighbour & I mad for the last week trying to workout
what was making the sound, as it started spot on 8.30pm every evening (right
when it gets dark) and would make a very loud, annoying vibrating noise for 30
mins -2hrs. Last night it had moved from being up near the roof, most likely in
a tree (hence I thought it was coming from something electrical), to her
carport, so we were able to locate it & determine the source!
Thanks,
Sarah

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Comments 1

ozzicada wrote:
It is a bladder cicada Cystosoma saundersi- where do you hear it in Sydney? The southern limit was thought to be Gosford, but we have a colony in Burwood.
David.
Posted 18 Jan 2010 at 11:07 pm ¶