蟬科

Neotibicen linnei

Cicadidae, the true cicadas,^[1] is the largest family of cicadas, with more than 3,200 species worldwide. The oldest known definitive fossils are from the Paleocene, a nymph from the Cretaceous Burmese amber has been attributed to the family, but could also belong to the Tettigarctidae.^[2]

Description

Cicadas are large insects characterized by their membranous wings, triangular-formation of three ocelli on the top of their heads, and their short, bristle-like antennae.^[3]

Life cycle

Cicadas are generally separated into two categories based on their adult emergence pattern. Annual cicadas remain underground as nymphs for two or more years and the population is not locally synchronized in its development, so that some adults mature each year or in most years. Periodical cicadas also have multiple-year life cycles but emerge in synchrony or near synchrony in any one location and are absent as adults in the intervening years. The most well-known periodical cicadas, genus Magicicada, emerge as adults every 13 or 17 years.^[4]

Ecology

Communication

Cicadas are known for the loud airborne sounds that males of most species make to attract mates. One member of this family, Brevisana brevis, the "shrill thorntree cicada", is the loudest insect in the world, able to produce a song that exceeds 100 decibels.^[5] Male cicadas can produce four types of acoustic signals: songs, calls, low-amplitude songs, and disturbance sounds.^[6] Unlike members of the order Orthoptera (grasshoppers, crickets, and katydids), who use stridulation to produce sounds, members of Cicadidae produce sounds using a pair of tymbals, which are modified membranes located on the abdomen. In order to produce sound, each tymbal is pulled inwards by a connected muscle, and the deformation of the stiff membrane produces a 'click.'^[7]

Reproduction

Newly emerged cicadas climb up trees and molt into their adult stage, now equipped with wings. Males call to attract females, producing the distinct noisy songs cicadas are known for. Females respond to males with a 'click' made by flicking their wings. Once a male has found a female partner, his call changes to indicate that they are a mating pair.^[8]

Higher Classification

Cicadidae is one of two families within the superfamily Cicadoidea. This superfamily is in the suborder Auchenorrhyncha, containing cicadas, hoppers, and relatives, within the order Hemiptera, the true bugs. There are five subfamilies within Cicadidae: Cicadettinae, Cicadinae, Tettigomyiinae, Tibicininae,^[9] and Derotettiginae.^[10]

Notes

See also

• List of Cicadidae genera

References