''Cicadetta'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of generally small-bodied

annual cicada Annual cicadas are Cicadidae species that appear every summer. The life cycle of an annual cicada typically spans 2 to 5'' ''years; they are "annual" only in the sense that members of the species reappear once a year. The name is used to disti ...

s widespread across portions of the

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. Th ...

Indomalayan The Indomalayan realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms. It extends across most of South and Southeast Asia and into the southern parts of East Asia. Also called the Oriental realm by biogeographers, Indomalaya spreads all over the Ind ...

, North African and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

realms A realm is a community or territory over which a sovereign rules. The term is commonly used to describe a monarchical or dynastic state. A realm may also be a subdivision within an empire, if it has its own monarch, e.g. the German Empire. Etymo ...

.World Auchenorrhyncha Database: genus ''Cicadetta'' Kolenati, 1857
(retrieved 24 May 2025) In older scientific and

taxonomic 280px, Generalized scheme of taxonomy Taxonomy is a practice and science concerned with classification or categorization. Typically, there are two parts to it: the development of an underlying scheme of classes (a taxonomy) and the allocation ...

literature, this

was popularly referred to as ''Melampsalta''. These cicadas occur in a diverse spectrum of

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

s, although most

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

are typically associated with weedy meadows and

tallgrass prairie The tallgrass prairie is an ecosystem native to central North America. Historically, natural and Historical ecology#Anthropogenic fire, anthropogenic fire, as well as grazing by large mammals (primarily bison) provided periodic disturbances to th ...

ecosystems An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system formed by Organism, organisms in interaction with their Biophysical environment, environment. The Biotic material, biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and en ...

. Several related species from North America were recently (2017) transferred to the genus '' Cicadettana''.

Distribution and conservation status

Many members of the genus inhabit

Southern Europe Southern Europe is also known as Mediterranean Europe, as its geography is marked by the Mediterranean Sea. Definitions of southern Europe include some or all of these countries and regions: Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, C ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, Anatolia, and Mediterranean Basin, coastal Mediterranean regions, and they have a Cicada (mythology), long history of association with the civilizations of those areas; revered by many cultures for their complex, loud, and sometimes melodic Animal communication, courtship calls. In addition, species have been recorded from North Africa, Asia and

. Most of the cicadas within this genus are classified by conservation groups as least concern, although many species are endemic to a particular isolated area or threatened by habitat loss primarily due to grazing. ''Cicadetta montana'', the type species, is the only cicada to occur in the British Isles and parts of Scandinavia; however, it is more common in warmer areas of mainland Europe, where it is one of a species complex."Present status of mountain cicadas Cicadetta montana (sensu lato) in Europe"
- Matija Gogala, Sakis Drosopoulos, Tomi Trilar (''Bulletin of Insectology'' 61 (1): 123-124, 2008)

Species

The genus ''Cicadetta'' includes: # ''Cicadetta abscondita'' # ''Cicadetta afghanistanica'' # ''Cicadetta albipennis'' # ''Cicadetta anapaistica'' # ''Cicadetta brevipennis'' # ''Cicadetta cantilatrix'' # ''Cicadetta cerdaniensis'' # ''Cicadetta chaharensis'' # ''Cicadetta concinna''
(synonym ''C. podolica'' ) # ''Cicadetta diminuta'' # ''Cicadetta dirfica'' # ''Cicadetta fangoana'' # ''Cicadetta fraseri'' # ''Cicadetta haematophleps'' # ''Cicadetta hageni'' # ''Cicadetta hannekeae'' # ''Cicadetta hodoharai'' # ''Cicadetta inglisi'' # ''Cicadetta inserta'' # ''Cicadetta intermedia'' # ''Cicadetta juncta'' # ''Cicadetta kissavi'' # ''Cicadetta kollari'' # ''Cicadetta konoi'' # ''Cicadetta laevifrons'' # ''Cicadetta macedonica'' # ''Cicadetta mediterranea'' # ''Cicadetta minuta'' # ''Cicadetta montana''
- type species # ''Cicadetta nigropilosa'' # ''Cicadetta olympica'' # ''Cicadetta pellosoma'' # ''Cicadetta petrophila'' # ''Cicadetta petryi'' # ''Cicadetta pieli'' # ''Cicadetta pilosa'' # ''Cicadetta shansiensis'' # ''Cicadetta sibillae'' # ''Cicadetta transylvanica'' # ''Cicadetta tumidifrons'' # ''Cicadetta tunisiaca'' # ''Cicadetta ventricosa'' # ''Cicadetta viridicincta'' # ''Cicadetta walkerella''

References

* Gogala, M. ; T. Trilar & S. Drosopoulos, 2011: Two new species and a new genus of Cicadettini (Hemiptera, Cicadidae) from the Greek island of Evia. ''Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift'' 58 (1): 105-117. Abstract: . * Hertach, T. 2011
Spectacular song pattern from the Sicilian Mountains: The new cicada species
''Cicadetta anapaistica'' sp. n. (Hemiptera: Cicadidae). ''Zootaxa'', 2771: 25-40. * Sanborn, A.F. 2009: A new species of ''Cicadetta'' (Hemiptera: Cicadomorpha: Cicadidae) from Hispaniola. ''Caribbean journal of science'', 45(1): 1-7. *T. Hertach et al., 2015: "Songs, genetics, and morphology: revealing the taxonomic units in the European Cicadetta cerdaniensis cicada group, with a description of new taxa (Hemiptera: Cicadidae)", Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, Volume 173, Issue 2, pp. 320–351, .

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q5119332 Hemiptera of Asia Hemiptera of Europe Hemiptera of Australia Taxa named by Friedrich August Rudolph Kolenati Cicadettini Cicadidae genera