Cicadatra platyptera Fieber, 1876

Mol, Abbas, Zeybekoglu, Unal & Akyurek, Basak, 2013, Morphological and acoustic characters of Cicadatra platyptera Fieber, 1876, ZooKeys 296, pp. 1-23 : 2-9

Cicadatra platyptera Fieber, 1876 Figs 1 –1217– 21Table 1-4

Morphology.

Redescription: Male. General appearance of body black with yellowish and white pile.

Head. General color of head blackish yellow with white scattered pile. Vertex blackish with sparse pile and some specimens have yellowish area between ocelli and top of postclypeus surrounded by yellowish area. Eyes yellowish brown and rarely blackish. Ocelli reddish brown and rarely yellowish. Epicranial suture generally yellowish. Antennae blackish. Frons black with white pile. Postclypeus with a central sulcus obvious transverse grooves with long pile specifically located near gena and edge of mandibular plate, transverse grooves blackish. Gena brownish with white pile specifically below the antennae. Mandibular plate yellowish with white pile. Anteclypeus yellowish brown with blackish area dorsally and white pile on lateral edge. Rostrum almost reaches coxae III, yellowish brown at base, darker towards apex, rarely yellowish laterally and with sparse pile (Fig. 1-A).

Thorax. Pronotum blackish, wider than vertex and twice as long as it, pronotumwith three large patch divided by pronotal and lateral fissure in both half and both fissure with white scattered pile (Fig. 1-A). Both patches brownish black. Lateral angle of pronotal collar widened, ambient fissure nearly smooth. Mesonotum narrowed pos teriorly like a bow and blackish with M-shaped yellowish fasciae. Sometimes U-shaped on parapsaidal sutures and nearly cover mesonotum. Lateral part of mesonatal collar and metanotum yellowish with short piles, scutal depression spoonlike and blackish, scutellum yellowish and blackish on both side (Fig. 1-B).

Legs. Fore coxae rectangle-shaped, with mid-cavity, yellowish with pile and black band basally. Middle and hind coxae trapezoid-shaped, shiny yellowish with pile and middle coxae with a black band basally, hind coxae with half depression in the middle. Fore, middle, and hind trochanters yellowish with dark brown basally, with piles at both corners, sometimes hind trochanters only yellowish. Fore femorae dark brown with white piles and yellow areas on lateral edges, sometimes areas irregular. Slightly angled primary spine, erect secondary spine and nearly erect apical spine, spines and surrounding areas blackish. Middle femorae yellowish with one or two dark brown bands dorsally and white pile. Hind femorae yellowish with white pile and brownish band dorsally. Fore tibia blackish brown with dense pile especially ventrally. Middle tibia yellowish, with piles and varying one to two brownish bands. Hind tibia yellowish with piles and five brown tibial spurs and sparse white pile. Tibial spurs and combs brown, darker distally. Fore tarsi blackish, middle tarsi black-brownish and hind tarsi yellow-brownish. Claws brownish basally and darker distally.

Wings. Fore wings at rest roof shaped, covering the abdomen and hyaline with yellowish venation basally and venation apically, R+Sc veins blackish. Basal cell on fore wings heptagonal, cubitus anterior and median veins originate separately. Cubitus posterior and median veins closer at base. Cubitus posterior anal veins not combined at base or apex. Fore wings with 8 apical cells and CuA1 wider than other apical cells (Fig. 1-C). Hind wing hyaline with yellowish venation and with 6 apical cells.

Operculum. Opercula yellow generally with brown spot on lateral base and white pile, broadly rounded apically, approaching one another and meeting medially.

Abdomen. Abdominal tergites blackish with white pile more or less located near the anterior edge of each tergum. Generally tergites one to seven with a light area on posterior apical part. Timbal cavity exposed. Timbal cover incomplete, blackish or brownish yellow with white short pile dorsally. Timbal with 11 ribs (Fig. 12). Abdominal sternites yellowish. On sternite II blackish area and on sternite III blackish spot at the base in the middle. Epipleurites yellowish.

Pygofer.blackish brown dorsally, yellowish brown ventrally. Posteriorly bow-shaped and sparsely setae dorsa-laterally, smooth dorsally, ventral slightly wavy (Fig. 2). Dorsal beak higher than upper lobe of pygofer and acute. The aedeagus bipartite basally, ex tending apically in a pipe shape, at apex pointed appendages like lamellae (Fig. 3). Sternite VIII concave basally, widened in the middle and slightly narrows to apex (Fig. 4).

Acoustics.

References to song: Boulard (1995), Gogala et al. (2005) and Gogala (2013).

Males of Cicadatra platyptera make sounds by using the timbals and fore wings. We were able to record clearly three different types of song, these are: calling song with repeating echemes, produced obviously by timbals like in the close related species Cicadatra atra ; courtship song produced obviously by a combination of timbale echemes and wing clicks, which is also typical for courtship songs of some other Cicadatra species ( Boulard 1995); and alarm song, which is produced in most cicadas when disturbed or handled. These signals are loud sounds that are widely thought to deter predators ( Claridge 1985, Fonseca 1991). Both calling song and courtship songs can last without interruption for many minutes while alarm sounds can last only for one or two seconds.

Calling song.

The phrases of this song are produced by the timbals (Fig. 5B, D). The calling song consists of echeme sequences and intervals between echemes. Echeme duration is in average 122.7 (50-188) ms and interval duration between echemes average 91.2 (40-213) ms (Figs 6, 7). Echeme duration of the calling song if produced after the courtship song (Fig. 5D) is slightly different, in average 133 (75-277) ms and intervals between echemes are in average 80 (36-212) ms long. Calling song sometimes starts with irregular echemes lasting 5-15 ms (Fig. 5A).

Frequency range.

The spectrum of these acoustic signals includes frequencies from about 5.5 to 12 kHz with a maximum 6 kHz, 8 kHz and 10 kHz (Fig. 18).

Courtship song.

The phrases of this song are produced by the timbals and fore wings in succession. This song develops from the calling song, lasts for some minutes and an individual can continue with another sequence of calling song. The calling song consists of an echeme sequence, and wing clicks in the middle of the intervals between echemes (Figs 8-10). Each echeme averages 104 (83-132) ms and interval durations between echemes average 132 (48-176) ms. The duration of the courtship song is about one or a few minutes (Figs 5C, 8, 9, 10).

Frequency range.

The spectrum of these acoustic signals includes frequencies from about 5.5 to 12 kHz with a maximum between 6 kHz and 6.5 kHz (Fig. 19). The courtship song wing clicks, amplitude spectra showing audible frequencies ranging from about 1.7-4.6 kHz and with a maximum 3 kHz (Fig. 20).

Alarm sounds.

When the animals are disturbed, they may produce these sounds. We evaluated a total of 6 recordings of alarm sounds of 6 different animals. The alarm sounds consist of irregular echemes in terms of duration, but generally one can find similar sound patterns or elements in different animals. The alarm song lasts 1300-1350 ms, and consists of 7 elements (Fig. 11A). Elements A last 74-81 ms, elements B last 46-50 ms (Fig. 11B), elements C last 206-210 ms (Fig. 11C), elements D last 77-80 ms, elements E last 60-62 ms (Fig. 11D), elements F last 36-38 ms and elements G last 36-38 ms (Fig. 11E). The interval between elements A and B is 104-107 ms, between B and C is 50-53 ms, between C and D is 63-64 ms, between D and E is 107-109 ms, between E and F is 319-323 ms and the interval between elements F and G is 91-94 ms.

Frequency range.

The spectrum of these acoustic signals includesfrequencies from about 5.5 to 12 kHz with a maximum about 8 kHz (Fig. 21).

Examined material for Cicadatra platyptera .

Corum, Sungurlu, Kemallı village, 14.7.2006, 790 m, 2 ♂, 40°08'269"N; 34°31'303"E (temperature 33°C); Central district, Mecitozu, Uçkoy, Simalı district, 13.7.2004, 815 m, 1 ♂, 40°21'438'N; 35°08'628"E; Central district, Beydili-Catak fork, 13.7.2011, 865 m, 6♂, (temperature 30°C), 40°36'549"N; 34°54'075"E; Çorum-Cemilbey way, Alike Vineyard, 900 m, 15.7.2012, 2 ♂; Central district, Karsıyaka street, 900 m, 2.8.2011, 2 ♂, 40°32'937"N; 34°59'137"E (temperature 33.6°C), (Fig. 17).

Distribution for Cicadatra platyptera .

Europe, North Africa, Russia, Turkey, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Syria ( Dlabola 1974, Lodos and Kalkandelen 1981, Ahmed and Sanborn 2010).

Recorded distribution in Turkey for Cicadatra platyptera .

Izmir: Bornova–Ilica-Karaburun; Giresun, Sebinkarahisar; Gumushane: Torul; Kahramanmaras, Goksun; Konya: Eregli; Mugla: Bodrum; Sivas: Hafik, ( Lodos and Kalkandelen 1981, Boulard 1995), (Fig. 17).