Thopha saccata
Thopha saccata | |
---|---|
T. saccata male specimen on display at the Australian Museum | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Hemiptera |
Suborder: | Auchenorrhyncha |
Family: | Cicadidae |
Genus: | Thopha |
Species: | T. saccata
|
Binomial name | |
Thopha saccata (Fabricius, 1803)
| |
Thopha saccata range | |
Synonyms | |
|
Thopha saccata, the double drummer, is the largest Australian species of cicada and reputedly the loudest insect in the world. Documented by the Danish zoologist Johan Christian Fabricius in 1803, it was the first described and named cicada native to Australia. Its common name comes from the large dark red-brown sac-like pockets that the adult male has on each side of its abdomen—the "double drums"—that are used to amplify the sound it produces.
Broad-headed compared with other cicadas, the double drummer is mostly brown with a black pattern across the back of its
Taxonomy
Danish naturalist Johan Christian Fabricius described the double drummer as Tettigonia saccata in 1803,[1] the first description of an Australian cicada.[2] The type locality was inexplicably and incorrectly recorded as China.[3] It was placed in the new genus Thopha by French entomologists Charles Jean-Baptiste Amyot and Jean Guillaume Audinet-Serville in their 1843 work Histoire naturelle des insectes Hemipteres ("Natural History of Hemiptera Insects"). The generic name is derived from thoph (Hebrew: תּוֹף), meaning "drum". They maintained it as native to China.[4] The specific name is derived from the Latin saccus, meaning "sac" or "bag", and more specifically "moneybag".[5]
In 1838,
Description
The adult double drummer is the largest Australian species of cicada, the male and female averaging 4.75 and 5.12 cm (1.87 and 2.02 in) long respectively. The
There is little variation in colour over its range, though occasional females are darker overall than average, with markings less prominent or absent.[11] The double drummer is larger and darker overall than the northern double drummer (T. sessiliba);[11] the latter has a white band on the abdomen, while the former has black markings on the leading edge (costa) of the forewing extending past the basal cell.[14]
Male cicadas make a noise to attract females, which has been described as "the sound of summer".[16] The song of the double drummer is extremely loud—reportedly the loudest sound of any insect[17]—and can reach an earsplitting volume in excess of 120 dB if there are large numbers of double drummers at close range.[14][18] Monotonous and dronelike, the song is said to resemble high-pitched bagpipes.[19] The sound of the buckling of the tymbal plate then resonates in an adjacent hollow chamber in the abdomen, as well as in the exterior air-filled sacs, which act as Helmholtz resonators.[20]
Singing can cease and restart suddenly, either rarely or frequently, and often ends abruptly.[14] The song has been described as "Tar-ran-tar-rar-tar-ran-tar-rar",[21] and consists of a series of pulses emitted at a rate of 240–250 a second. The tymbal covers are much larger than other species and also make the call louder and send it in a particular direction. There are two distinct phases of song, which the double drummer switches between at irregular intervals. One phase is a continuous call that can last for several minutes; during this period the frequency varies between 5.5 and 6.2 kHz and 6.0–7.5 kHz 4–6 times a second. In the other phase, the song is interrupted by breaks of increasing frequency resulting in a staccato sound. These breaks can be mistaken for silence as the difference in volume is so great, though the song actually continues at a much lower volume. During this staccato phase, which lasts for several seconds, the frequency remains around 5.75–6.5 kHz. The frequency of the song is a high harmonic of the pulse repetition frequency, which makes for a particularly ringing sound.[22] Double drummers congregate in groups to amplify their calls, which likely drives off potential bird predators.[23] Male double drummers also emit a distress call—a sharp fragmented irregular noise—upon being seized by a predator.[12][23]
Life cycle
The narrow spindle-shaped eggs are laid in a series of slits cut by the mother's ovipositor in branches or twigs, usually of eucalypts.
The adult lifespan of the double drummer is about four or five weeks.[29][30] During this time, they mate and reproduce, and feed exclusively on sap of living trees, sucking it out through specialised mouthparts.[31] Female cicadas die after laying their eggs.[12]
Distribution and habitat
The double drummer has a disjunct distribution, found from northern tropical Queensland, near Shiptons Flat and Cooktown south to Ingham and Sarina, and then from Gympie in southeastern Queensland to Moruya in southern New South Wales.[14] It is found in areas of higher elevation in the northern segment of its range, as the climate there is similar to that in southeast Queensland.[11] Walter Wilson Froggatt and Robert John Tillyard erroneously included South Australia in its distribution.[32][33]
Adults are present from November to early March, prolific in some years and absent in others. They are found in dry
The double drummer has not adapted well to city life; distribution of the species in cities is limited to natural stands of large trees.[2]
Behaviour
In hotter weather, double drummers perch on the upper branches of trees, while on overcast or rainy days, they may be found lower down on trunks near the ground.
Predation
As the adult cicadas emerge in the daytime, large numbers are consumed by birds.[36] Thopha cicadas have also been found in the stomachs of foxes.[37] The double drummer is one of the large cicada species preyed on by the cicada killer wasp (Exeirus lateritius),[36] which stings and paralyses cicadas high in the trees. Their victims drop to the ground where the cicada-hunter mounts and carries them, pushing with its hind legs, sometimes over a distance of 100 m (330 ft). They are then shoved into the hunter's burrow, where the helpless cicada is placed on a shelf in an often extensive "catacomb", to form food-stock for the wasp grub growing from the eggs deposited within.[38]
Interactions with humans
Schoolchildren climb trees to collect live cicadas and keep them as pets in shoeboxes. However, they cannot easily be kept for longer than a day or two, given that they need flowing sap for food.[18] Live adults brought into classrooms by their captors would startle the class with their piercing sound.[39] Poems dedicated to the double drummer appeared in the Catholic Press in 1933 and 1936, describing bird predation and its life cycle to children.[40][41]
See also
References
- ^ Fabricius, Johan Christian (1803). Systema rhyngotorum : secundum ordines, genera, species : adiectis synonymis, locis, observationibus, descriptionibus (in Latin). Brunswick, Germany: C. Reichard. p. 34.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-9803272-3-6.
- ^ Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (19 July 2012). "Species Thopha saccata (Fabricius, 1803)". Australian Faunal Directory. Commonwealth of Australia. Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Amyot, Charles Jean-Baptiste; Audinet-Serville, Jean Guillaume (1843). Histoire naturelle des insectes Hemipteres (in French). Paris, France: Librairie encyclopédique de Roret. p. 471.
- ISBN 0-304-52257-0.
- ^ Guérin-Méneville, Félix Édouard (1838). "Voyage de la Favorite". Magasin de Zoologie (in French). 9: 80.
- ^ Westwood, John Obadiah (1843). "Descriptions of Some Homopterous Insects from the East Indies". Arcana Entomologica or Illustrations of New, Rare, and Interesting Insects. Vol. 2. London, United Kingdom: William Smith. pp. 33–35 [33].
- .
- ISSN 1399-560X.
- ^ .
- ^ .
- ^ a b c d Cammeray (8 March 1914). "Nature Study – Habits of the Shrill Cicada – Essentially a Summer Insect – Viewed in its Australian Habitat". The Sunday Times. Sydney: National Library of Australia. p. 32. Retrieved 20 August 2013.
- ^ .
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Moulds 1990, pp. 55–56.
- PMID 9319589.
- ^ a b Wondjina (28 December 1946). "The Cicada Sings for Love". Sydney Morning Herald. Sydney: National Library of Australia. p. 10. Retrieved 20 August 2013.
- ISBN 1-876334-43-6.
- ^ a b Craig, Owen (17 February 2001). "Summer of Singing Cicadas". ABC Science – Environment and Nature. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
- ^ "Animal Species: Double Drummer Cicada". Australian Museum. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
- PMID 10562517.
- ^ "The Cicada". The Sydney Morning Herald. Sydney: National Library of Australia. 29 April 1933. p. 9. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
- .
- ^ a b Moulds 1990, p. 22.
- ^ a b Moulds 1990, pp. 5–6.
- ^ Monteith, Geoff; Burwell, C.; Lambkin, C (2011). "Cicadas – Our Summer Singers Fact Sheet" (PDF). Queensland Museum Learning. South Brisbane, Queensland: The State of Queensland (Queensland Museum). Retrieved 11 April 2014.
- ^ a b c Popple, Lindsay (2006). "Genus Thopha Amyot and Serville, 1843 (Drummers)". The Cicadas of Central Eastern Australia. University of Queensland. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
- Australian Women's Weekly. National Library of Australia. 3 February 1960. p. 30. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
- ^ Moulds 1990, p. 53.
- ^ "Open-Air Yarns: Singing Cicadas". Sunday Mail. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 17 December 1927. p. 14. Retrieved 20 August 2013.
- ^ "The Cicadas". The Morning Bulletin. Rockhampton, Qld.: National Library of Australia. 17 December 1954. p. 14. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
- ^ Britton, David (19 March 2012). "Cicadas: Superfamily Cicadoidea". Nature Culture Discover. Sydney: Australian Museum. Retrieved 11 April 2014.
- ^ Froggatt, Walter Wilson (1907). Australian Insects. Sydney, New South Wales: W. Brooks. pp. 348–49.
- ^ a b Hawkeswood, Trevor J. (2007). "Notes on the Occurrence and Habitat of a Population of Thopha saccata (Fabricius, 1803) (Homoptera: Cicadidae) on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia" (PDF). Calodema (Supplementary Paper No. 20): 1–2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-12-02.
- ^ Emery, D.L.; Emery, S.J.; Emery, N.J.; Popple, L.W. (2005). "A Phenological Study of the Cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) in Western Sydney, New South Wales, with Notes on Plant Associations". Australian Entomologist. 32 (3): 97–110.
- ^ Moulds 1990, p. 7.
- ^ a b Moulds 1990, p. 10.
- .
- ^ Tillyard, Robert John (1926). The Insects of Australia and New Zealand. Sydney, New South Wales: Angus & Robertson. pp. 298–99..
- The Brisbane Courier. Brisbane: National Library of Australia. 27 February 1932. p. 23. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
- The Catholic Press. Sydney: National Library of Australia. 28 December 1933. p. 33. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
- ^ Gossamer, Goody (16 January 1936). "The Children's Page". The Catholic Press. Sydney: National Library of Australia. p. 39. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
Cited text
- Moulds, Maxwell Sydney (1990). Australian Cicadas. Kensington, New South Wales: New South Wales University Press. ISBN 0-86840-139-0.