Gorse cicada
| Gorse cicada | ||||||||||||
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Gorse Cicada ( Gargara genistae ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Gargara genistae | ||||||||||||
| ( Fabricius , 1775) |
The gorse cicada ( Gargara genistae ) is a round-headed cicada from the genus Gargara in the family of humpback chirps (Membracidae). It is widespread and with a length of 4.4 to 5.5 millimeters it is the smallest representative of the humpback chirps (Membracidae) in Central Europe .
distribution and habitat
The gorse cicada is widespread in the Holarctic with the exception of Northern Europe, in the Ethiopis and the Orientalis . The species is also found variously in North America, obviously it was introduced there. The animals live predominantly in dry habitats, on sunny to partially shaded locations, often with less warmth. They can sometimes be found in numbers locally, but are lacking nearby. In Austria they only occur at heights between 120 and 500 m.
features
The gorse cicadas, which are dark brown in their basic color, reach body lengths between 4.4 and 5.5 millimeters, with the females becoming somewhat larger than the males. The build is compact. The powerful and fine hairy neck plate (pronotum) is curved upwardly and pulled backward in a long, straight extension. In contrast to the similar but much larger thorn leaf hoppers ( Centrotus cornutus ), this species does not have lateral, ear-shaped growths in the head area. The forewings are brownish translucent and streaked with light brown veins.
Way of life
The larvae and adult animals feed on plant sap, which they ingest with their specially built, piercing-sucking mouthparts . They are first-degree oligophagous, which means that they only use the plant species of one plant family as food. Gorse cicadas only suck the sugary phloem sap from the ducts of shrubby legumes (Fabaceae), some of which they excrete as honeydew. These include ononis ( Ononis ), broom ( Genista ) colutea ( Colutea ) Kronwicken ( Coronilla ), Glycyrrhiza ( Glycyrrhiza ) and caragana ( Caragana ).
Some of the gorse cicadas live in symbiosis with ants (e.g. Formica cinerea ), which use their excretions ( honeydew ).
The insects overwinter in the egg stage. Adult animals appear from the end of June and can be found until mid-October. They make up one generation a year ( univoltin ).
literature
The information comes from the following literature:
- WE Holzinger, I. Kammerlander, H. Nickel: The Auchenorrhyncha of Central Europe - Die Zikaden Mitteleuropas. Volume 1: Fulgoromorpha, Cicadomorpha excl. Cicadellidae. - Brill, Leiden 2003, ISBN 90-04-12895-6 .
- R. Biedermann & R. Niedringhaus: The cicadas of Germany - identification tables for all species. Fründ, Scheeßel 2004, ISBN 3-00-012806-9 .
- R. Remane & E. Wachmann : Cicadas - get to know, observe. Naturbuch Verlag, Augsburg 1993, ISBN 3-89440-044-7 .
- 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 .
Web links
- Gargara near Fauna Europaea
Individual evidence
- ^ Lewis L. Deitz & Matthew S. Wallace: Richness of the Nearctic Treehopper Fauna (Hemiptera: Aetalionidae and Membracidae) . In: Zootaxa . tape 3423 , 2012, p. 1-26 .
- ^ A b W. Schedl: The distribution and biology of Gargara genistae (Fabricius 1775) in Austria (Homoptera: Auchenorrhyncha: Membracidae) . In: Stapfia . tape 55 , 1998, pp. 607-612 ( PDF on ZOBODAT ).