Twenty-nine Pacarina (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) adults, 12 males and 17 females, emerged from the soil of a potted Dracaena trifasciata (Asparagaceae) in Arraiján, Republic of Panama, providing the first rearing records and the first definitive host plant records for any species of Pacarina. These reared Pacarina appear to be morphologically distinct from all known species of Pacarina and likely represent an undescribed species. In light of this finding, we also discuss the taxonomy, biogeography, and ecology of Pacarina.

cicada, Dracaena, host plant, rearing, taxonomy

As far as is known, all cicadas are herbivores that spend the vast majority of their long life cycles as nymphs, living deep underground and feeding on the xylem sap of plant roots (Beamer 1928; Cheung and Marshall 1973; White and Strehl 1978). Because of their relative inaccessibility to researchers, very little information is available about the host plant associations of juvenile cicadas. Consequently, even though adult cicadas are among the most conspicuous and familiar of all insects, the host plants of most cicada species’ nymphs remain unknown.

Positive rearing records are one of the few ways to establish with certainty which plants are suitable hosts for a particular cicada species Although many species have been broadly associated with particular plant communities or ecoregions (e.g., Tinkham 1941; Young 1980; Kondratieff et al. 2002; Phillips and Sanborn 2007; Sanborn and Phillips 2013), such data can only suggest potential hosts. Records of which plant species female cicadas choose for oviposition are undoubtedly more useful, but oviposition sites do not necessarily match the plant species on which the nymphs will eventually feed (Newell 1906; Beamer 1928).

Unfortunately, cicada nymphs are quite difficult to maintain in captivity (Beamer 1928; Myers 1929; Moulds 1990), and this, combined with their long, multi-year life cycles, means that few researchers have attempted to rear them. Among the hundreds of species of Nearctic and Neotropical cicadas, we are aware of rearing records for only about a dozen species, nearly all from North America (Table 1). Furthermore, of these, nearly all were partial rearings that covered only one or a few nymphal instars. Only Diceroprocta apache Davis, Magicicada sp., and Quesada gigas (Olivier) have been successfully reared from egg to adult (Table 1).

We report here the first known captive rearing of the genus Pacarina Distant (1905b). Cicadas identified as Pacarina nr. puella Davis (1923) were reared in central Panama on the host plant Dracaena trifasciata (Prain) Mabb. (Asparagales: Ruscaceae). Because Dracaena trifasciata is not native to the Americas, our results clearly represent a novel host relationship for this cicada. Furthermore, although the cicadas reared in this study are morphologically similar to Pacarina puella, there is reason to believe that they represent an undescribed species, so we also discuss the taxonomy of the genus and previously published records of Pacarina in Panama.

When exuviae from six cicada nymphs were found on a potted D. trifasciata plant kept on AA’s front porch, it was decided to enclose the plant, pot and all, in a window screen and hardware cloth cage (Fig. 1) [photos P01878-P01880 taken 29 December 2006.].

Figure 1. 

Cage to capture cicadas, Pacarina sp., emerging from soil, where they fed on Dracaena trifasciata roots (left image: host plant without cage; right image: host plant with cage), with exuviae from an emerged cicada photographed in situ (inset image). Panama: Arraiján, Loma del Río, 29 December 2006. Aiello lot 2006-25.

The window screen was sewn into a cylinder with fishing line, and reinforced by an external hardware cloth cylinder sewn with wire. The cage was capped with the cover from a white plastic 5-gallon tank. The finished cage was 29.2 cm (11.5”) in diameter and 91.4 cm (36”) high. The diameter was chosen to fit the tank cover. The height corresponded to the original width of the hardware cloth.

Exuviae were pointed. Adults were captured in vials and frozen, and later pinned. All specimens are labeled as Aiello lot 2006-25, plus an individual number. When two or more individuals of the same sex emerged on the same day and it wasn’t possible to match the exuviae to their adults, the exuviae were labeled with all possible individual numbers. Individual #7 (male) and its exuviae were deposited in MIUP (Museo de Invertebrados G. B. Fairchild de la Universidad de Panamá), individual #8 (male) and its exuviae were deposited at the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History, and the remaining reared specimens are in the Aiello collection at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama (STRI).

Other material examined were 25 specimens at STRI. Of these, 23 are in the Henk Wolda Collection, and two are in the STRI Synoptic Collection. The two Synoptic Collection specimens were collected at a UV light on Barro Colorado Island (BCI). Among the Wolda specimens, 21 were captured in light traps at three locations: Las Cumbres, BCI, and Coco Solo Hospital. The other two Wolda specimens are from a Malaise Trap in Curundu, and from the canopy on Pipeline Road. The early Wolda material was determined by Michel Boulard in 1975. Later Wolda specimens have not yet been examined critically. The reared specimens at STRI were determined by BJS. To aid in determination, we compared the reared specimens of Pacarina to high-resolution images of the type specimens of Cicada signifera Walker (1858; = Pacarina puella Davis) and Pacarina schumanni Distant (1905a), both housed in the Natural History Museum, London.

The original three cicada nymphal exuviae (2 male, 1 female) were found 16 December 2006, on the leaves of a potted D. trifasciata plant on AA’s front porch, Panamá: Arraiján, Loma del Río (8.9407N, 79.6568W; elevation ~154 m). They were followed by two more (1 male, 1 female) on 22 December, and a sixth (female) on 23 December. Each nymph had climbed a leaf to a point several centimeters above the soil, and anchored itself by grasping the rigid leaf margin with the legs of one side of its body, and hooking the tarsi of the opposite side into the smooth leaf surface.

Because the pot was isolated by several meters from any other soil, except for that of a potted Calathea veitchiana J. H. Veitch ex Hook. f. (Marantaceae), 5 meters away, on which no exuviae ever were found, it was obvious that the cicadas truly were associated with the D. trifasciata plant. This became even more obvious when, after the cage was installed, 21 additional adults emerged.

The only individual for which we have a precise emergence time is #22, which surfaced as AA watched at 09:31 hours. Its wings expanded in a matter of seconds. Three other individuals had preceded it, possibly minutes before, because they were positioned among the leaf bases and were rather inactive. It is our impression that adults emerge in the morning and stay among the leaf bases and don’t move into the upper area of the cage until much later. Usually they were found near the top of the cage in late afternoon or early evening.

The cage was removed on 3 February 2007 because no eclosions had occurred since 14 January 2006. However, two more (#28 and #29, both females) did emerge on 7 February and we have their exuviae only. In total, 29 cicadas, comprising 12 males and 17 females, emerged (Table 2).

The cicadas reared from the D. trifasciata clearly belonged to the genus Pacarina, but we could not identify them as any of the known species in the genus (Fig. 2). Instead, comparison to type material strongly suggested that our reared Pacarina represent an undescribed species. Of the described species of Pacarina, the reared Pacarina are most similar to P. puella.

Figure 2. 

Male Pacarina sp. reared from Dracaena trifasciata: a) dorsal view; b) dorsolateral view; c) ventral view; d) lateral view of terminalia. This specimen is individual #8 in Table 2.

Our results provide the first definitive host plant record for any species of Pacarina, and one of the few captive rearing records for any species of cicada. The cicadas we reared appear to be an undescribed species. We suggest three directions for future work on Pacarina. First, it would be useful to ascertain the host plants of “P. puella” in both the US and Panama. In particular, does P. puella in the US actually use mesquite as a host, or is the relationship merely coincidental? We have demonstrated that Pacarina can be reared in a relatively small space, so future investigations of potential host plants should be feasible by enclosing females with candidate plants to see whether they oviposit, and if so, whether the nymphs successfully develop on them. Second, more complete morphological and bioacoustic data for P. puella and P. schumanni, especially from their type localities, are needed to facilitate a critical re-evaluation of previous literature records of Pacarina and to determine the status of purported P. puella in the US and Panama. Third, molecular data from representative specimens throughout the geographic range of Pacarina could be used to provide a phylogenetic context for interpreting morphological, ecological, and bioacoustic data and to further guide species delimitation. Together, these data would allow us to finally untangle the taxonomy of these enigmatic little cicadas.

We are grateful to Ricardo Cortez for technical advice and help with building the cage and to Edwin Ernesto Domínguez Núñez for technical assistance. We also thank Mick Webb and Tatiana Ruschel for providing photographs of the holotype specimens of P. puella and P. schumanni. Paula Simões and an anomymous reviewer provided helpful comments on the manuscript. BJS gratefully acknowledges the support of a 2013 Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute short-term fellowship.