Corresponding author: Marah A. Dardar (
Academic editor: E. Tasheva
The aim of this study is determining the different patterns of egg nests and the morphological differences between the specimens of
Cicadas are large insects obvious in their environment because of their mating calls. However, they receive relatively little attention because they are often difficult to catch and there are few individuals who can identify insects of the group (
In practice it is usually not always possible to have live specimens and thus difficulties may arise in the identification of cicadas. In many instances, like in the genus
For the species
80 egg nests were collected from three different apple fruit orchards in the village Erneh. The samples were collected on 9th, 11th, and 17th of July. 50 twigs hold one egg nest were cut from each orchard by using a paring scissor. The collected twigs (150) were mixed well together, then 80 twigs were chosen randomly from them one after one, then they were left in the room temperature to be dried and to prevent them from decomposition caused by humidity. The external structure of the chosen egg nests were studied in the laboratory.
300 adults (150 males + 150 females) were collected from several fruit orchards in the village Erneh on 27th of June, 2011. Then they were put in a plastic container and kept in the refrigerator under 4°- 6°C. The color of the supra-antennal plate and the number of spurs on the tibia of the hind legs of the collected adults were studied in the laboratory by using a Binocular microscope.
It was observed that the female of
The first pattern of egg nests of
The second pattern of egg nests
The results showed that there were two basic patterns of specimens according to the color of the supra-antennal plate (
The distribution of two basic patterns of individuals of
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Males | Number | 138 | 12 |
Percent of total males | 92% | 8% | |
Percent of total individuals | 46% | 4% | |
Females | Number | 145 | 5 |
Percent of total females | 96.67% | 3.33% | |
Percent of total individuals | 48.33% | 1.67% | |
Males and females | Total number | 283 | 17 |
Total percent | 94.33% | 5.67% |
Pattern with yellow supra-antennal plate
Pattern with black supra-antennal plate
The results also showed that there were several patterns of individuals according to the number of spurs on the lateral and upper sides of the hind legs. The total number of patterns was 27. There were 26 patterns which was different from each other. The percent of those different patterns in individuals with yellow supra-antennal plates was 22%, and 2% in individuals with black supra-antennal plates, and the total percent was 24%. The most common pattern was (2, 3) whose individuals have 2 spurs on the upper side of the tibia of the hind legs and 3 spurs on the lateral side (
(2, 3), (2, 4), (2, 5), (3, 5), (3, 3), (3, 4), (1, 3), (2, 2), (1, 1), (1, 2), (0, 1), (2, 6), (1, 6), (4, 4).
The common pattern (2, 3) of
Pattern (2, 4) of
Pattern (2, 5) of
Pattern (3, 5) of
Pattern (3, 3) of
Pattern (3, 4) of
Pattern (1, 3) of
Pattern (1, 1) of
Pattern (1, 2) of
Pattern (0, 1) of
Pattern (2, 6) of
Pattern (1, 6) of
Pattern (4, 4) of
Number of yellow supra-antennal plate individuals of
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1 | (2, 3) | (2, 3) | 103 | 114 | 217 | 72.33% |
2 | (2, 3) | (2, 4) | 2 | 3 | 5 | 1.67% |
3 | (2, 4) | (2, 3) | 7 | 4 | 11 | 3.67% |
4 | (2, 4) | (2, 4) | 2 | 3 | 5 | 1.67% |
5 | (2, 5) | (2, 4) | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0.67% |
6 | (2, 3) | (3, 3) | 2 | 6 | 8 | 2.67% |
7 | (3, 3) | (3, 4) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.33% |
8 | (2, 3) | (1, 3) | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1.33% |
9 | (1, 3) | (2, 3) | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0.67% |
10 | (2, 4) | (2, 5) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.33% |
11 | (2, 3) | (2, 2) | 5 | 2 | 7 | 2.33% |
12 | (3, 3) | (3, 3) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.33% |
13 | (3, 3) | (2, 3) | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1% |
14 | (2, 5) | (2, 3) | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0.67% |
15 | (2, 3) | (1, 1) | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0.7% |
16 | (2, 3) | (3, 4) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.33% |
17 | (2, 6) | (2, 6) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.33% |
18 | (3, 4) | (0, 1) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.33% |
19 | (3, 4) | (2, 5) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.33% |
20 | (2, 5) | (2, 5) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.33% |
21 | (1, 6) | (3, 5) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.33% |
22 | (4, 4) | (2, 3) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.33% |
23 | (2, 5) | (4, 4) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.33% |
24 | (2, 6) | (2, 5) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.33% |
25 | (2, 5) | (3, 4) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.33% |
26 | (2, 2) | (2, 3) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.33% |
27 | (1, 2) | (2, 3) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.33% |
Total | - | - | 139 | 145 | 284 | 94.33% |
* the first number refer to the number of the spurs on the upper side of tibia of the hind leg, and the second number refer to the number of the spurs on the lateral side of tibia of the hind leg.
Number of black supra-antennal plate individuals of
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1 | (2, 3) | (2, 3) | 8 | 3 | 11 | 3.67% |
2 | (2, 3) | (2, 4) | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0.67% |
3 | (2, 4) | (2, 3) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1% |
13 | (3, 3) | (2, 3) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.33% |
Total | - | - | 12 | 5 | 17 | 5.67% |
The results showed that there could be a relation between the two basic patterns of egg nests made by females of
The results showed that there was a common pattern (2, 3) of individuals based on the number of spurs on the tibia of the hind legs whose individuals have 2 spurs on the upper side of the tibia and 3 spurs on the lateral side of the tibia. The total percent of that pattern was 76% and this percent correspond with the percent of apple fruit orchards in Erneh which is about 75%. The total percent of other patterns was 24% and this corresponds with the percent of other different fruit orchards in Erneh which is about 25%. The morphological differences among the individuals of
This research showed that there are different patterns of egg nests and morphological differences of
General commission for Scientific Agricultural Research supported this research. We thank the Biological Control Studies and Research Center which is dependent to the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Damascus, Syria. We also thank the farmer Ismael Masoud in village Erneh for helping us in collecting individuals of