Thopha sessiliba
species of true bug
Thopha sessiliba, commonly known as the northern double drummer, is an Australian cicada native to Queensland, the Northern Territory and northern Western Australia. Adults perch almost exclusively on ghost gums.
William Lucas Distant described the northern double drummer in 1892, but incorrectly gave the type locality as Sydney.
Description
The northern double drummer is a large species of cicada, the second largest in Australia, just smaller than the largest species, the double drummer. The male and female average 4.56 cm long. The thorax is 1.85 cm in diameter. The eyes are light brown tinged with purple, and the postclypeus dark red-brown. The head is variable in colour, but never black like the double drummer. The thorax is brown with lighter golden-brown markings. The mesonotum is brown tinged with purple.
“Thopha sessiliba” enters the record as species of true bug. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Thopha, sessiliba and species can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 7, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q16759416. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1892.
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This entry incorporates text from “Thopha sessiliba” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.