Cicada

Cicadas are noisy insects for the last few weeks of their long life. The first six or more years are spent quietly sucking sap from the roots of trees. They are in the class Insecta, the order Hemiptera, the family Cicadidae, and genus Cyclochila. The Greengrocer cicada shown on this page is in the species australasiae.

Technical stuff

Classification of cicadas could start with Eukaryotes or living things build of cells with nucleuses.

Then you have the Metazoa, Animals. Cicadas are in the Kingdom of Animalia.

Within the Metazoa, we have the Bilateria, the creatures that are symmetrical from one side to the other.

Cicadas are in the Phylum Arthopoda along with crabs, spiders, water fleas, barnacles, and every insect.

Hexapoda is the next classification. On this level is the Subphylum Uniramia.

Cicadas are in the Class Insecta which we know as insects.

Within insects, they are Pterygota or Winged insects.

They are Neoptera or insects with the ability to fold the wings back over their abdomen, using special structures at the base of their wings.

They are in the Hemipteroid Assemblage including Bugs, Thrips, and Lice.

They are classified as Order Hemiptera. Hemisys means half. Pteron means wing. Many of the Hemiptera have the base half of their fore wings thicker than the other half.

You then look in the Suborder Auchenorryncha to see Cicadas, spittlebugs, leafhoppers, treehoppers, and planthoppers.

The Infraorder Cicadomorpha contains cicadas and close relatives.

The Superfamily Cicadoidea contains cicadas and tettigarctid cicadas.

The Family Cicadidae contains only cicadas.

Cicadas contain the Subfamilies Cicadinae and Tibicininae. Cicadinae contains a small number of big cicadas including the Thopha saccata (Double Drummer), Arunta perulata (White Drummer), Psaltoda claripennis (Clanger or Clear Wing Cicada), Henicopsaltria eydouxii (Razor Grinder), and the Tamasa tristigma (Brown Bunyip). Tibicininae contains a lot of small cicadas.

The Greengrocer is in Genus Cyclochila and is Species australasiae.

Greengrocer cicada

You can find the greengrocer cicada along the coast of Australia from south eastern Queensland along NSW through Victoria and South Australia. They are about the size of your thumb if you have a large thumb.

Care and feeding

After up to seven years underground, they live above ground for just six weeks. Do you want to keep one? You could catch one when it is a hot day, a cool evening, and the cicada goes into your laundry or somewhere similar for some protection. They are slow in the morning because they have not warmed up with their first cup of coffee. you can then take them to school to show everyone else then let them go in the evening.

Do not rattle them around because you break their wings. The need some air. protect them from the hot sun. Do not leave them in a plastic box or on the car dashboard or in direct sunlight. An old cardboard box with air holes punched in the top will work. An old plastic box with air holes can work if you include some branches with leaves to offer shade and protection. They have to suck sap each day for the food and water so release your specimens when you arrive home.