Bioacoustics of Cicadatra barbodi

Differential diagnosis. Cicadatra barbodi sp. nov. is one of a group of large Cicadatra species but can be distinguished from other large species relatively easily. The new species can be distinguished from C. shaluensis China , 1925 by the lack of heavy infuscation forming a zig-zag pattern on the fore wings and hind wings. The narrow fore wings of C. erkowitensis Linnavuori, 1973 and C. longipennis Schumacher, 1923 , and the shape of ulnar cell 2 in the fore wing of C. persica Kirkaldy, 1909 distinguish these species from Cicadatra barbodi sp. nov. The narrower fore wings and black abdomen distinguish C. bistunensis Mozaffarian & Sanborn, 2010 . The pronotal discs and ventral abdomen are ferrugineous in C. aceri (Distant, 1888) and C. anoea (Walker, 1850) , the entire pronotum is flavotestaceous in C. flavicollis Horváth, 1911 , and the pronotum is black except for a midline stripe in C. kermanica Dlabola, 1970 . The wider pronotum, the lack of marking on the posterior pronotal collar, and black abdomen distinguish C gingat China , 1926 . Finally, C. zahedanica Dlabola, 1970 can be distinguished by its monochromatic tawny coloration. The other Cicadatra species from the collection region can be separated by the much smaller body size (about 16 mm ) of C. lorestanica Mozaffarian, Sanborn & Phillips, 2010 , the smaller body length ( 20 mm ) and green or tawny coloration of C. alhageos (Kolenati, 1857) , and finally, C. hyalina (Fabricius, 1798) can be distinguished by sternite VIII being about 1.5 longer than broad, the upper pygofer lobe being very small and not finger-like, the more rounded medial region of the claspers which meet medially, the multiple spines on the aedeagus in males or the rounded rather than angulate posterior margin of the female sternite VII. The genitalia as illustrated are unique to the new species and can be used to distinguish the species from any other Cicadatra species. Song. During the field collection, male specimens were singing, head downward, on the stem of Echinops sp., in oak ( Quercus spp.) woods (Fig. 9). The song of C. barbodi sp. nov. was also heard from the branches inside the oaks. The song (number of specimens recorded = 2) consisted of a continuous train of steady echemes separated by short pauses (interecheme intervals) ( Figs 10–13 ). The echemes had a duration of 0.661 to 2.644 seconds, with the average of 1.442 seconds and the interecheme interval lasting between 0.033 to 0.057 seconds with the average of 0.047 seconds. The mean rate of echeme production was 1.5 per second. The echemes were comprised of repeating sound pulses of 0.001 second duration without interechemes. Peak energy (peak frequency) for both recorded animals was determined to be 9.562 kHz ( Fig. 14 ). Blowing wind did not influence sound production or the length of phrases and silences in recorded sounds. No wing clicks were observed. The head down posture during singing in this species is rather rare in cicadas ( BOULARD & MONDON 1996 , MOULDS 2005b , SANBORN & PHILLIPS 2012 ). It has been described in Cicadatra atra (Olivier, 1790) ( BOULARD & MONDON 1996 ) , which has also been recorded from Iran (MOZAFFARIAN & SANBORN 2010) and was documented also in C. hyalina ( GOGALA 2009 ) . song that are amplitude modulated at the beginning of each phrase ( POPOV 1975 , GOGALA 2009 ) and is easily distinguishable from the new species.