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Arizona cicada
Location: central Arizona (Aravaipa Canyon)
October 22, 2011 8:48 pm
This cicada was found (post-mortem, so no need to put this in the unnecessary carnage section! ) in October in Aravaipa Canyon in south-central Arizona. I hate to bother you with it, but I’m stumped. I looked through all the cicada photos I could find on your site plus some other sites and I couldn’t find any with that interesting orange X on the back that appears to be between the thorax and the abdomen. (Or maybe I did but was so bug-eyed from looking at hundreds of cicada photos that I missed it.) That just seemed to me to be an important distinguishing feature that I did not see on any other species I found. If you could help me identify it, I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks,
Signature: Brian Jones

Apache Cicada

Hi Brian,
After some research, we believe this may be Diceroprocta apache, a species we have been unofficially calling the Apache Cicada.  You can see this posting to BugGuidethat explains how to differentiate the various members of the genus that are found in Arizona from one another.  We always welcome our readership to confirm or correct our sometimes questionable identifications.

Apache Cicada

Thank you so much for your amazingly fast response.  You guys perform an amazing service with your website.  It is both informative and entertaining.  Thank you for all of your efforts.
Take care,
Brian

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