Platypleura haglundi

Platypleura haglundi is a medium-sized African cicada species, that occurs from northern South Africa to Zimbabwe, where it is found in diverse habitats. In South Africa it has been recorded in North West, the northern Free State, Northern Province, Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Kwazulu-Natal.[1] The type was collected in Weenen Game Reserve, KwaZulu-Natal.[2]

Platypleura haglundi
Adults in South Africa, with closed and opened wings
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hemiptera
Family:	Cicadidae
Genus:	Platypleura
Species:	P. haglundi
Binomial name
Platypleura haglundi Stål, 1866

It has deep ochre hind-wings like its congeners, with a complete black border. The abdomen is black with an incomplete terminal white band.[3] The species feeds on Acacia, Dichrostachys cinerea and Delonix regia.[3] The adults are active from October to March. As with other southern African cicadas, they would generally emerge later at more southerly latitudes, and usually after seasonal rains.[1]

It forms part of a southern African radiation in the Platypleura that started during the Miocene.[2] A larger species of the southern African radiation, P. capensis, replaces it in the Cape fynbos regions.

References

1. Villet, Martin H. "Platypleurini". The Cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) of South Africa. Rhodes University. Archived from the original on 16 January 2014. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
2. Price, B. W. (January 2010). "Historical biogeography of the tribe Platypleurini Schmidt, 1918, with emphasis on the genus Platypleura Amyot & Seville, 1843 in southern Africa" (PDF). PhD thesis. Rhodes University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 January 2014. Retrieved 15 January 2014.
3. Picker, Mike; et al. (2004). Field Guide to Insects of South Africa. Cape Town: Struik Publishers. p. 158. ISBN 978-1-77007-061-5.

External links

Media related to Platypleura haglundi at Wikimedia Commons