Ed. Note: December 1, 2010
Since summer is approaching in the Southern Hemisphere, we are beginning to get more identification requests from Australia.  There are many different species of Cicadas in Australia and they are given very unusual common names.  We hope that we receive numerous photographs of Australian Cicadas this year and hopefully, making this Green Grocer that was sent in about a week ago the Bug of the Moth will encourage other submissions of Cicadas.

Large Green Flying Insect
Location: Ascot Vale, Melbourne
November 22, 2010 11:49 pm
Hello
Can you please help me identify this fly found in my sister’s garden? It was bigger than my thumb and quite fat.
Signature: LC

Green Grocer Cicada

Dear LC,
You have netted a Green Grocer Cicada, Cyclochila australasiae, one of many species of Cicada found in Australia that have fascinating and colorful common names.  According to Oz Animals:  “The Green Grocer Cicada is a common cicada along eastern Australia. It has a loud high pitched call and is one of the loudest insects in the world. The most common form is green, and another fairly common form is the yellow form (the Yellow Monday). Less common colour variations are dark tan (Chocolate Soldier) and turquoise blue (Blue Moon). Most forms have red eyes, although the Blue Form has purple blue eyes. The Masked Devil is an orange brown form with a black mask across the eyes that is more common at higher altitudes.“  Now that winter is fast approaching in North America, our northern hemisphere identification requests are tapering off, but each year at this time, we get numerous requests from Australia and other southern hemisphere locations.  Your letter is the first Cicada image from Australia this season.

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Crazy looking… beetle?
Location: Southern Illinois
October 28, 2010 8:17 pm
My sister took a picture of this insect that was sitting on her car this fall. She didn’t provide any details on its behavior or size. It’s certainly unlike any insect I’ve ever seen, and I can’t even pinpoint whether it’s a beetle or some other classification! Help me out please!
Signature: Erik S

Cicada Head

Dear Erik,
This is the third photo we have received in recent months of a Cicada Head and we would love to know what has been decapitating Cicadas.  We suspect birds have eaten the fatty portion of the insects body and left the head behind.

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Missouri Cicadas Mating
Location:  Grandview, Missouri
October 1, 2010 9:58 am
My 6 year old is fascinated by bugs and she found these mating cicadas in our neighbor’s driveway in Grandview, Missouri. We love looking thru your sight to identify the various bugs she finds and we thought you might want to add these pictures to your collection.
Signature:  Glena Kellison

Mating Scissor Grinders, we believe

Hi Glena,
We believe, though we are not sure, that these may be mating Scissor Grinders, Tibicen pruinosus, which is sometimes called a Silver Bellied Cicada according to BugGuide.  Sadly, your photo documentation did not include the bellies of this pair.  We believe the photo looks like the Scissor Grinders, but we cannot be certain.  We hope someone of our readers can confirm our identification since we are enamored of the name.  We thought after writing this that it might help provide evidence toward the proof or disproof of their identity to look at the Bugguide Data page on the Scissor Grinder to see at what time of year they appear.  There are no reported sightings in Missouri, but there are reported sightings in all the surrounding states.  Nearby Nebraska reports sightings as late as October, but there are numerous September sightings from the range.  That is evidence in support of our identification being correct.

Mating Scissor Grinders, unless we are wrong.

Very interesting, I’m sorry I did not take a picture of their bellies as I did not want to “disturb” them.  The photo on BugGuide “dog day cicada – Tibicen pruinosus” that was taken in Overland Park , KS looks just like the cicadas I took a picture of.  I live 15 minutes from Overland Park and the pictures I took were taken in early August if that helps you.  I promise next time they make an apperance I will snap a photo of their belly.
Thank you and keep up the awesome bug guide!

Update
May 15, 2011 4:51 pm
you are correct about the scissor grinder on bug love you called it a scissor grinder and thats correct.i collect all types of bugs like house centapedes and black widows and stuff like that,and im the only girl in my nieghbor hood who can identafy alot of types of bugs and my website isent face book its just a place to hang out on and if you need more help i can help
Signature: mackenzie

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South Korean bug
Location:  Songnisan National Park, Republic of Korea
September 23, 2010 1:56 am
On my trip to Korea I saw many wonderful bugs. This may be the most baffling one. I can’t tell if it’s a moth or beetle, or something else. I saw it walk and fly. It was about an inch and a half.
Signature:  Barbara

White Cicada

Dear Barbara,
Though it is called a White Cicada, your insect is actually a Fulgorid Leafhopper, Lycorma delictula.  There are photos of both the winged adult and red nymph on bjbug.com and you may also read a news story on the Korean Times online website.

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