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Blue Moon

Cyclochila australasiae

Photo by Leuba Ridgway
Published on Project Noah
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-37.8934, 145.312

Field Notes

Description:

A beautiful blue-green Cicada about 75 mm long, The wings had an aqua tinge to them. The head, thorax and abdomen were a brilliant bright green. Two large compound eyes were bluish-red and the three ocelli in the middle shone like little glass orbs (pic 4). The underside of the abdomen was a pale yellow. Pic 5 shows a sharp pointy rostrum used for sucking tree sap.

Habitat:

Spotted under bright lights near a National Park

Notes:

These cicadas remain as root-sap sucking nymphs underground for 6 years before emerging as these beautiful adults. They mate and spend their adult lives ( 6 weeks ) sucking tree sap.
This spotting features a blue morph. This species vary in colour and have other common names accordingly.
http://australianmuseum.net.au/Greengrocer

Here is a handsome yellow version of the same species, spotted in the same area:
http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/43529198
and the fully green one was spotted here http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/43739144

Species ID Suggestions

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