The cicada (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) fauna of the Lesser Antilles sensu lato with the description of two new species, two new combinations, and a key to species
Author
Sanborn, Allen F.
text
Zootaxa
2024
2024-08-22
5497
1
33
69
http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5497.1.2
journal article
10.11646/zootaxa.5497.1.2
1175-5326
13617972
42D8CC88-4245-4DFF-AEAE-C86D74F7F7A6
Quesada gigas
(
Olivier, 1791
)
Cicada gigas
Olivier 1791: 750
(Java)
.
Cicada triupsilon
Walker 1850: 103
(Unknown collection locality).
Cicada sonans
Walker 1850: 104
(Unknown collection locality).
Cicada consonans
Walker 1850: 106
(West Coast of America).
Cicada vibrans
Walker 1850: 107
(Unknown collection locality).
Tympanoterpes sibilarix
Berg 1879: 141
.
Remarks.
The
type
locality of Java is a mistake. The species is found over most of the tropical and subtropical New World (
Sanborn & Heath 2014
; 2017).
The publication date for the species is modified from previous works that listed 1790 as the year of publication. It has been reported (
Bousquet 2016
) that Olivier’s work was published in two parts with the first part (pages 1–368) published on
17 November 1790
and the second section (pages 369–793) being published on
3 June 1791
. The description of
Cicada gigas
is in the second section and the date of availability should be 1791 instead of the 1790 that has previously been used in the cicada bibliographies (
Metcalf 1963a
;
Duffels & van der Laan 1985
;
Sanborn 2013
).
Diagnosis.
Quesada gigas
is another of the large Trinidadian cicadas with body lengths up to
45 mm
and wingspans of
120 mm
having been reported (
Sanborn & Heath 2017
). The head width across the eyes is narrower than the pronotum and about as wide as the mesonotum, the head is distinctly triangular with an anterior extension of the postclypeus, the lateral pronotum is convergent anteriorly in dorsal view, the lateral pronotal collar is narrower laterally than dorsally, timbal covers recurve along the posterior timbal cavity forming a ribbon-like structure posterior to the timbals with a small triangular extension that expose the majority of timbal laterally, the male abdomen is widest at segments 3 and 4, proximal wing venation is ground color, and infuscation found only on the radial and radiomedial crossveins easily distinguish it from
Majeorona aper
.
Fidicinoides descampsi
can be distinguished by the stout body and the infuscation found along the ambient vein, distal apical cell veins, and connecting across all crossveins of the fore wings and hind wings. The song sounds like a steam whistle. Their ability to call at dusk is due to the endothermy exhibited by the species (
Sanborn
et al
. 1995
).
Davis (1944)
reported emergence times for the species during February and March on
Tobago
.
Distribution.
This species may have the most extensive north to south range of any cicada species. It has been reported from as far south as central
Argentina
, expanding across South and Central America with records from
Belize
,
Bolivia
,
Brazil
,
Colombia
,
Costa Rica
,
Ecuador
,
El Salvador
, French Guiana,
Guatemala
,
Guyana
,
Honduras
,
Mexico
,
Nicaragua
,
Panama
,
Paraguay
,
Peru
, the Antilles, the West Indies,
Trinidad & Tobago
,
Uruguay
,
Venezuela
, extending northward into the southern
Texas
in the
United States
(
Metcalf 1963a
;
Duffels & van der Laan 1985
;
Maccagnan & Martinelli 2011
;
Sanborn 2011b
;
2013
; 2014; 2018; 2019a; 2020a, b, c; 2023a;
Maccagnan
et al.
2014
;
Monteiro
et al.
2014
;
Sanborn & Heath 2014
; Reis
et al.
2015;
Maccagnan
et al.
2017
;
Oliveira
et al.
2017
;
Nunes
et al
. 2023
). References for the species in
Trinidad
and or
Tobago
by
Mathew (1875)
,
Distant (1881a)
,
Uhler (1892)
,
Davis (1944)
,
Maes (1998)
,
Sanborn & Heath (2014)
, and
Sanborn (2018)
were provided with no specific locality information.
Uhler (1892)
lists
Trinidad
as given by
Distant (1881a)
but did not consider
Trinidad
part of the Lesser Antilles proper. The first specific locality for the Lesser Antilles was given in
Sanborn (2020a)
for
Trinidad
. It has been reported from both
Trinidad & Tobago
(
Davis 1944
;
Sanborn 2020a
).
Material examined.
“
Petit Valley
/
TRINIDAD
/ Station No. 1 /
10 June 1970
//
T
.
E. Rogers
/ Coll.”
one female
(
FSCA
); “
TRINIDAD
/
Talparo
/
V
.24–
VI
.7.1990 /
H.L. Dozier
”
one male
(
AFSC
)
.