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The summer singer! (6)
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![Silver Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 18 W: 3 N: 76]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/s-n-g.gif) (258) | The cicada is the king of the greek summer afternoon, with his typical song.
A cicada is any of several insects of the order Hemiptera, suborder Homoptera, with small eyes wide apart on the head and transparent well-veined wings. Cicadas live in temperate to tropical climates.
Adult cicadas, called Imagines, are usually between 2 and 5 cm (1 to 2 inches) long, although there some tropic species that reach 15 cm (6 in), e.g. the Pomponia imperatoria from Malaysia. Cicadas have prominent eyes set wide apart on the sides of the head, short antennae protruding between or in front of the eyes, and membranous front wings. Cicadas are also one of the only insects known to cool themselves by sweating.
Male cicadas have loud noisemakers called "tymbals" on their sides. Their "singing" is actually a kind of stridulation: they vibrate these membranes with strong muscles; their body serves as a resonance body greatly amplifying the sound. Some cicadas produce sounds louder than 100 dB. (This amazing sound has frequently inspired haiku poets in Japan to write about them.) They modulate their noise by wiggling their abdomens toward and away from the tree that they are on.
The fact that only males produce the cicadas' distinctive sound prompted Xenophon to remark "Blessed are the cicadas, for they have voiceless wives."
Source : Wikipidia , the free Encyklopedia. |
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