Hi I have only caught cicada adults using long handled nets. I know Martin Villet at Rhodes University has done plenty of research on the group maybe he would have done such sampling. If you are interested maybe google his name and contact him.

We collected adult Cicada with windowtraps in the canopy, published in Röder et al Forest Ecology and Management

Long handled nets: I attached an extendable painting pole to my net, so I can reach about 20 or so feet, it's been really useful for capturing cicadas.

I have also had some luck using black lights, but only certain cicada species appear to be attracted to them

Dr. Pons,

I am not quite sure whether these are the species you intend to sample. I am not an expert in this area but i find them so interesting. I first encountered adult cicadas in Japan, in around summer . Maybe i looked at a different species. They are endangered, I have here attached some literature for you. I am currently studying their life cycle.

In case you find these interesting, please advise me.

Sorry, I realized i could only attach one source.

Here is additional source of information.

This probably won't be of much use to you, but the traditional way that Chinese children would catch them is it have a sticky thing (e.g. sponge) on the end of a long bamboo pole. Apparently it takes some practice, but they seem to have got quite good at it.

Cooley also used female as a lure, I think this is the method you are interested in.

Thanks Pons

Gabriel

Thank you all to take the time to answer this question. Some of the solutions are really imaginative! We have already captured cicadas from trunks with handled nets but we failed when they were in the canopy. I will try with a better extendable pole, and also will use several of the other methods you propose.

Gabriel, the female lure is probably a good option. The flight-interception traps mounted with the aid of a crossbow are impressive; it's a pity that they are not selective.

I have caught adults cicadas in Poland from pines and junipers using long handled net, however they are very rare in Poland, and only a few specimens were taken. It is not very easy. Try to ask Professor Matija Gogala from Slovenian Museum of Natural History, he is an expert.

Oh, it should be easy if you register their singing in a sound recording device before monunting the playing the songs with a magnetophone with megaphone a lot of times inside a net constructed on a long stick that can be left standing for some time.

Best wishes

M.Kun

Hello Pere,

It is not clear why you need to collect the specimens. For surveys, sounds recordings are quite adequate, and publications by Matija Gogala, Tomi Trilar and Jose Quartau are very relevant regarding Cicada orni. For specimens there are no shortcuts, and every specimen has to be hunted own individually. Fortunately, males of this species [group] are not so hard to collect (in my experience). A long-handled net will definitely help, along with patience and experience. Also, things get easier as the season progresses and populations get more dense. I found them easy to catch by hand in Spain, and you can consult Jerome Sueur (in Paris) or Stephane Puisant about their experiences in France, and Jose Quartau (in Lisbon) about the methods used by his group all around the whole Mediterranean. There is no easy way to collect females except sharp-eyed observation, heaps of luck and a special talent.

Not yet tried.

Vacuum sampler may help you

Hello Martin,

Thanks for your interest and your answer. We need to collect several dozens of males to study fluctuating assimetry in different habitats. Last summer we collected them with handled nets in dense populations where we could find adults in trunks below 3 m. But we failed to do so in tall pine forest (several hours to collect only one female), an important habitat for our study. Long-handed nets don’t work in pine canopy because branches hamper the use of the net and Cicada orni escape easily. I was therefore looking for another method. I’m not sure if the female lure works with this species, are you? I think I will follow your advice and ask Sueur, Puissant or Quartau.

Hello Pere,

Males of some cicadas move through the environment while signalling to females, and receptive females respond y wing-flicking. In there species, a female lure may well work. In other groups, males are sedentary and it is the females that move, and in these cases lures will not work. I expect that Cicada orni is in the second group, but Jerome, Stephane or Jose will know better than me. Wing-flicking occurs in Cicadettini and Tettigomyiini, but not in Platypleurini.

Because C. orni is a (relatively) large-bodied species, the mist nets usually used for birds should work well in warm weather, but might be sex-biased if the males are sedentary.

Best wishes,

Thanks, Martin, for your ideas!

Can you see cicadas that are above 3 m on trunks? Childhood technique may work if you can see them. My mother says she used to collect cicadas by wrapping spiderwebs around the top of a bamboo pole (you could use telescoping pole) and lightly tapping the back of the cicada so it will stick, then lowering it down. This avoids problem of having a net tangled among branches, but still requires that you can see the cicada and maneuver a long pole which I expect is not easy above 3 m.

Dear Pere,

What Martin wrote is very fair. C. orni is a sedentary species and often its behavior can not really be compared with tropical species. Do not forget also that C. orni lays its eggs within dry or nearly dry support (not only in plants!). To capture this cicada at great heights (over 3 m), my friend Michel Boulard has made a specific net. This one has two hoops in order that the specimen falls into the bottom and do not escape.

Best wishes,

Dear Pere,

Here in Korea, I usually encounter that issue since one of the study species, Cryptotympana atrata, mainly perches at the peak of the tree, which is usually several meter height. My experience is to prepare three sticks , each one about 1.5m length, and bring all three sticks wherever you want. You can go easy way by using adhesive-tape to wrap it tightly around three sticks to archive necessary length. Besides, I don't use insect net since it is too big and the individuals easily fly away. I make the radii of the net half smaller, and connect it to one of the sticks.

Should you need a picture, I can send it to you.

Dear Stéphane and Hoa,

I just come across your answers. Thanks for these recommendations. By the moment we have been successful in capturing emerging cicadas and capturing adults in open habitats. Best regards,

Pere