Zammara Explained
Zammara (from Hebrew: זַמָּר|zamár|lit=singer[1]) is a genus of cicadas. These species are large cicadas that are generally bright blue-green in color.[2] Like other cicadas, these can produce loud calls; Zammara tympanum, for example, makes a "winding up-like pulsating buzz."[3] Zammara are found in the Neotropics,[4] especially in equatorial regions,[2] where they live in tropical forest habitat. The genus is characterized by tarsi (the "feet" of the insect) that are divided into 2 segments, or tarsomeres; other genera in the tribe have 3 tarsomeres in each tarsus.[5]
There are about 15[6] or 16 species in the genus.[7]
Species include:[5]
- Zammara brevis
- Zammara calochroma
- Zammara erna
- Zammara eximia
- Zammara hertha
- Zammara intricata
- Zammara lichyi
- Zammara luculenta
- Zammara medialinea
- Zammara nigriplaga
- Zammara olivacea
- Zammara smaragdina
- Zammara smaragdula
- Zammara strepens
- Zammara tympanum
Notes and References
- Amyot CJB, Audinet-Serville, JG (1843) Homoptères. Homoptera Latr. [In] Histoire naturelle des Insectes. Hémiptères. Deuxième partie: 455-483. Librairie Encyclopédique de Roret, Paris, 676 pages.
- Goemans, G. The Neotropical cicada genus Zammara (Hemiptera: Cicadidae), untangling the taxonomic knot, using DNA, morphology and song. (Abstract). Graduate Student Ten-Minute Paper Competition, SysEB-4. Entomological Society of America Annual Meeting. Knoxville. November 12, 2012.
- Young, A. F. (1981).Notes on the population ecology of cicadas (Homoptera: Cicadidae) in the Cuesta Angel forest ravine of northeastern Costa Rica. Psyche 88 175-196.
- Allen M. Young
- Goemans, G. (2010). A historical overview of the classification of the Neotropical tribe Zammarini (Hemiptera, Cicadidae) with a key to genera. ZooKeys 43 1-13.
- Maccagnan, D. H. B., et al. (2011). Zammara smaragdula Walker, 1858 (Hemiptera: Cicadidae): First record for Brazil. CheckList 7(4) 563-64.
- Sanborn, A. F. (2004). Two new Zammara species from South America (Hemiptera: Cicadomorpha: Cicadidae). The Florida Entomologist 87(3) 365-71.
