Thopha saccata, commonly known as the double drummer, is the largest Australian species of cicada. Its common name comes from the large dark red-brown sac-like pockets that the adult male has on each side of its abdomen. Adult double drummers generally perch high in the branches of large eucalypts in Queensland and New South Wales.
About Thopha saccata in brief
Thopha saccata, commonly known as the double drummer, is the largest Australian species of cicada and reputedly the loudest insect in the world. Its common name comes from the large dark red-brown sac-like pockets that the adult male has on each side of its abdomen. Found in sclerophyll forest in Queensland and New South Wales, adult double drummers generally perch high in the branches of large eucalypts. They emerge from the ground where they have spent several years as nymphs from November until March, and live for another four to five weeks. The male and female average 4. 75 and 5. 12 cm long respectively. The largest collected specimen has a wingspan of 15. 1 cm, while the average is 13. 3 cm. The average mass is 4. 0 g. The sexes have similar markings, but males have large red- brown sac- like structures on each. side of their abdomens. These cover the tymbals, which is buckled to produce the cicado’s song. The head, antennae and postclypeus are black, with a narrow broken pale brown transverse band across the vertex just behind the ocelli.
The eyes are black in young adult cicadas upon emerging, but turn brown with black pseudopupils at the posterior edge of the eye. The proboscis is 1. 26 cm in length—very long compared with other Australian cicADA species. The thorax is brown, becoming paler in older individuals. The legs are dark brown and have grey velvety hairs. The ovositor is very long, measuring 1. 76cm long, and the wings are vitreous with light brown veins. The double drummer is larger than its average, though occasional females are darker overall than average, with prominent prominent or prominent markings. There is little variation in colour over its range, though females are larger than average. It is also the type species for the tribe Thophini. The specific name is derived from the Latin saccus, meaning “sac” or “bag” and more specifically “moneybag’. In 1838, Félix Édouard Guérin-Méneville pointed out that thedouble drummer is native to Australia and not China. The type locality was inexplicably and incorrectly recorded as China.
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This page is based on the article Thopha saccata published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 06, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
