Information
Description
BL ♂: 8.9-10.5 mm; ♀: 8.2-10.5 mm. Base color black, thorax and legs completely black. Forewings usually with a broad, strongly curved, posterior red band and two red spots on each wing (var. typica). Ventral plates of the connexivum black. Body shape long ovoid. Frons in sideview not exceeding the fore margin of the vertex.
Three more color morphs are distinguished:
- C. vulnerata var. confluens Heller, 1985: red spots and posterior red band are all fused together.
- C. vulnerata var. helvetica Melichar, 1896: red spot in the clavus extends beyond the scutellum tip and touches the red spot on the corium. Posterior red band is wider as in C. vulnerata var. typica.
- C. vulnerata var. nicolausi Wagner, 1948: red spot in the corium and the posterior red band are fused together.
Genitalia:
- Male aedeagus: shaft long and with a blunt tip; with spine-like appendages of equal length.
Ecology
Adults between May and July, hibernates in the larval stadium. In a wide variation of habitats, but mainly in moist to wet grassland. Adults on grasses and herbs.
Distribution
Widely distributed throughout Europe, except the north.
References
- Biederman, R. & R. Niedringhaus 2004. Die Zikaden Deutschlands – Bestimmungstafeln für alle Arten. WABV Fründ.
- Den Bieman K, Biedermann R, Nickel H & Niedringhaus R 2011. The planthoppers and leafhoppers of Benelux. Identification keys to all families and genera and all Benelux species not recorded from Germany. WABV Fründ.
- Holzinger, W.E., I. Kammerlander & H. Nickel 2003. The Auchenorrhyncha of Central Europe, Fulgoromorpha, Cicadomorpha excl. Cicadellidae. Brill Publishers, Leiden: 673 pp.
- Jach, M. & H. Hoch 2013. Fauna Europaea: Cicadomorpha, Cicadomorpha, Cercopidae. Fauna Europaea version 2.6.2. Available on: www.faunaeur.org.
- Kunz, G. 2009. Das Insekt des Jahres 2009. Die Gemeine Blutzikade Cercopis vulnerata (ROSSI, 1807) (Auchenorrhyncha, Cercopidae). Entomologica Austriaca 16: 345-351.
- Kunz, G., H. Nickel & R. Niedringhaus 2011. Fotoatlas der Zikaden Deutschlands. – WABV Fründ, Osnabruck.
- Nast, J. 1972. Palaearctic Auchenorrhyncha (Homoptera) An annotated check list. Polish Scientific Publishers, Warsaw, Poland,: 550 pp.
- Rossi, P. 1807. Classis septima. Rhyngota. Fauna Etrusca: sistens insecta quae in provinciis Florentina et Pisana praesertium collegit. 2: 341-352. (Description)
Images
♂ Imago
♀ Imago
♂ Imago