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Razor Grinder - Henicopsaltria eydouxii
Family Cicadidae
This page contains pictures and information about Razor Grinder Cicadas that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
- Male, body length 40mm
- We found a lot of them in Mt Cotton during mid summer 2005. They rest at the lower part of the tall trunk, about 1.5 meters to 3 meters from ground. They like to rest on the vary large gum tree trunk. When disturbed, they make some alert sound while flying away to another tree trunk.
- A number of them can be found singing on the same tree trunk. They produce very loud sound resemble metal grinding. The sound pitch rises a few second follows by a quick drop then repeated. Those loud songs were quite painful to ear when standing under the trees.
- They are dark brown in colour with dark zigzag patterns on front wings veins. The veins near wing edges are also dark in colour.
- We found one on the floor which is slow moving. When disturbed, it turned around and played dead.
- We also found a lot of them in the eucalypt forest need Summit Street around Tingalpa Reservoir on mid summer Jan 2009. A number of them can be found singing on large gum tree trunk.
- Some infromation suggested that the Razor Grinder Henicopsaltria eydouxii in Tamborine Mountain appears in vast numbers at intervals of seven years. We did not found it is periodical unless this is happen in a small local area. We need more observations to confirm this.
- Reference:
- 1. Wildlife of Greater Brisbane - Queensland Museum, Brisbane, 1997, p80.
- 2. Species Henicopsaltria eydouxii (Guérin-Méneville, 1838) - Australian Faunal Directory, Australian Biological Resources Study.
- 3. A NEW SPECIES OF HENICOPSALTRIA STÅL (HOMOPTERA CICADIDAE) FROM NORTH QUEENSLAND - M. S. Moulds Australian Museum, Sydney, N.S.W. 2000.
- 4. Cicadas – our Summer Singers - Geoff Monteith, Queensland Museum, leaflet 0036, September 2000.
- 5. Cicada choirs - NewScientis - 14 August 1999 by H. Syd Curtis, Hawthorne, Queensland.
