Mangrove Cicadas

why are they on the wrong side of the island?

John Moss is an entomologist who was studying Mangrove Cicadas, an interesting species which is a lovely iridescent green. The males have large inflated sacs on their abdomens to make their song louder. The females (which don’t sing) have smaller abdomens, so scientists originally classified them as a separate species because they looked so different.

It was generally believed that their nymphs survived in the wet, salty, mud environment by sealing themselves inside burrows on the mangrove roots. However, there was no real evidence for this and John wondered why he never found nymphs or their shells in the mangroves.

One night he was using light traps light traps on Stradbroke Island and caught some female Mangrove Cicadas. He wondered why they were there in the middle of the island, well away from the mangroves. Then he had a closer look at some nymph shells he found in Spinifex grass on the sand dunes on the ocean side of the island. These turned out to be Mangrove Cicadas as well. It seems that that the females fly across the island from the mangrove shore to the ocean side to lay their egg in the dunes. The nymphs seem to live on the Spinifex roots. When they emerge as adults, they must find their way across the island to the mangroves.

This is still an unproven theory at this stage. John says it would be an interesting PhD study for someone to research the life-cycle of these insects and confirm what really happens.

Further Information

Queensland Museum Mangrove Cicada Specimen Card [new window 774 KB ]

AusEmade: Cicada
www.ausemade.com.au/fauna-flora/fauna/insecta/hemiptera/cicada/index.htm
The content found by using this link is not created, controlled or approved by this department. No responsibility is taken for the consequences of viewing content on this site. This link will load into a new window.