Alpine foam cicada
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Alpine foam cicada ( Aphrophora major ) in a rain bog in Northwest Germany. |
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| Aphrophora major | ||||||||||||
| Uhler , 1896 |
Alpine leaf hoppers ( Aphrophora major , syn .: Aphrophora alpina Melichar, 1900) are round head leaf hoppers (Cicadomorpha) from the family of leaf leaf hoppers (Aphrophoridae). A distinctive feature of the family is that their larvae live in foam nests they have made themselves. This so-called “cuckoo-spit”, also known locally as “witch's spit”, is often found in meadows on grasses and herbaceous plants . The alpine foam cicada is the largest Central European foam cicada species and can reach a body length of up to 12.5 millimeters.
description
The alpine foam cicada is dark brown in its basic color; light brown variants are less common. The front wings are finely haired, coarse-leathery and covered with numerous point pits, they are about three times as long as they are wide. A small, light spot in the middle of the median vein is characteristic of the species , often one or two darker spots or a dark longitudinal band are also present. The scutellum and pronotum are flat. The body shape is slender, oblong-oval and tapering to a point. Alpine foam cicadas reach (in Central Europe) body lengths between 10.6 and 12.6 millimeters, whereby the females are usually slightly larger than the males and at least 11 millimeters in length (East Asian animals can get a little larger). This makes them somewhat larger than the other European species of the genus. The head and pronotum of the Alpine foam cicada have a distinctive longitudinal keel in the middle. The head is triangular when viewed from above and four times as wide as it is long; it is slightly wider above the eyes than the front edge of the pronotum. The front plate fused with the head shield ( frontoclypeus ) is more or less vaulted when viewed from the front and side and contains the suction pump. Like all cicadas, alpine foam cicadas also have a proboscis for feeding. As with most cicadas, the shape of the male mating organs is to be examined for a reliable identification of the species. In this species the outer corner of the stylus is blunt, the aedeagus is broad and short when seen from above, and it also ends bluntly.
Way of life
The alpine foam cicadas are so-called stratenchangers. The adult animals live on woody plants mostly willows (Salix) or birches (Betula). In contrast, the larvae live in the herbaceous and shrub layers in characteristic foam balls.
nutrition
Most species of cicada are restricted to certain nutrient plants. Alpine foam cicadas, on the other hand, are polyphagous , which means that they use several plant genera or families. The nutrient plants of the adult animals are mainly birches and willows. Those of the larvae are not exactly known. For Bavaria, reeds (phragmites) and lice herb (Pedicularis) are given, for Japan also mugwort (Artemisia).
Reproduction and development
Like all male cicadas and sometimes the females, the males of the alpine cicadas are able to produce chants (inaudible to humans). These are generated by special drum organs ( tymbal organs ), which are located on the sides of the 1st abdominal segment. By pulling a strong sing muscle, the membranes of the drum organs are set in vibration. The noise is generated by indenting (muscle pull) and jumping back (inherent elasticity). In Aphrophora major there is a each about 4 to 6 seconds lasting Schrillton (phrase) which is continuously presented and not rhythmically divided into single syllable elements. It is species-specifically different from other species of the genus that occur in the same habitat.
The adults live between mid-July and late September. The females migrate into the herb layer to lay their eggs. The eggs overwinter and the larvae hatch in the following spring. Alpine foam cicadas form only one generation a year, they are univoltine . The development of the larvae takes place over five stages, whereby with increasing age the facilities for the organs of the adult animal (wings, genital fittings) form and enlarge. The larvae live wrapped in a foam nest on the stems and leaves of herbaceous plants.
Distribution and habitats
The alpine foam cicada is common in Siberia. In Central Europe it occurs only in cooler locations. It has been found in Europe in England , Ireland , the Netherlands , France , Germany , Switzerland , Austria , Italy , the Czech Republic , Poland , central and northern Russia , Ukraine , in parts of the Balkans , but is absent in Scandinavia. A second, disjoint (separate) distribution area includes Japan ( Hokkaido , Honshu , Shikoku , Kyushu ), the Kuril Islands , Korea , Manchuria , the island of Sakhalin and the Far East of Russia ( Primorye region ). In Germany, the species lives in the Bavarian Alpine foothills south of the Danube, in the Bavarian Forest and in moors in the north-west German lowlands, in the regions in between it is extremely rare or completely absent. In the mountains it reaches 850 meters above sea level.
Alpine foam cicadas colonize woody, moist to wet, cool, boggy humid biotopes . They live along the edges of forests , but mostly in low and intermediate bogs and on the edge of rain bogs .
Hazard and protection
The alpine foam cicada does not enjoy any special legal protection. In Germany, however, it is classified as critically endangered on the Red List . The main causes of danger are the destruction of their habitats through drainage and cultivation of moorland areas.
Species of the genus Aphrophora in Europe
There are six species of the genus Aphrophora in Europe . There are five in Germany.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b R. Biedermann & R. Niedringhaus: The cicadas of Germany - identification tables for all species. Fründ, Scheeßel 2004, ISBN 3-00-012806-9 . Alpine cicada on page 174
- ↑ a b Tadashi Komatsu (1997): A Revision of the Froghopper Genus Aphrophora Germar. (Homoptera, Cearcopoidea, Aphrophoridae) from Japan, Part 3. Japanese Journal of Entomology 65 (3), 502-514.
- ↑ a b H. Nickel: The leafhoppers and planthoppers of Germany (Hemiptera, Auchenorrhyncha): Patterns and strategies in a highly diverse group of phytophagous insects. Pensoft, Sofia and Moscow, 2003, ISBN 954-642-169-3
- ↑ Andreas Wessel, Roland Mühlethaler, Viktor Hartung, Valerija Kuštor, Matija Gogala: The Tymbal: Evolution of a Complex Vibration-Producing Organ in the Tymbalia (Hemiptera excl. Sternorrhyncha). In: RB Cocroft et al. (editors): Studying Vibrational Communication. Animal Signals and Communication 3. Springer Verlag, 2014. doi : 10.1007 / 978-3-662-43607-3_20
- ↑ D. Yu. Tishechkin (2011): Calling signals in sympatric species of the far-eastern Aphrophora (Homoptera: Auchenorrhnyncha: Aphrophoridae): regularities of communication channel segregation. Russian Entomological Journal 20 (1): 57-64.
- ↑ a b H. Nickel & R. Remane: List of species of cicadas in Germany, with information on nutrient plants, food breadth, life cycle, area and endangerment (Hemiptera, Fulgoromorpha et Cicadomorpha). - Contributions to the cicada 5/2002. pdf 229 kB
- ↑ a b Aphrophora major. Fauna Europaea version 2.6.2, August 29, 2013 ( Memento from August 9, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Werner E. Holzinger, Ingrid Kammerlander, Herbert Nickel: Die Zikaden Mitteleuropas. Volume 1 Fulgoromorpha, Cicadomorpha excl. Cicadellidae. Brill, Leiden, 673 pp. ISBN 978-90-04-12895-8 . Aphrophora major on page 497.
- ↑ Ai-Ping Liang (2006): Synonymy of Aphrophora willemsi Lallemand 1946 with Aphrophora salicina (Goeze, 17778) (Hemiptera: Cercopoidea: Aphrophoridae) Journal of the New York Entomological Society 114 (3): 140-143.
