José Alberto Quartau

Cicadas - better known for providing the soundtrack of our hot summer are remarkably interesting animals, they are the longest living insects – 17 years for some species – but spent 99% of this time underground to then emerge for a few weeks, reproduce and finally die. Now a study of north-African and Mediterranean cicadas by scientists in Portugal and the UK uncover yet more interesting data on the group by revealing that these species although differentiated by their mating calls (and genetically) are, nevertheless, morphologically indistinguishable.

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