Clanger

Psaltoda claripennis

Eats: Plants True bugs and cicadasForests and woods6 legs

The clanger is a big cicada that lives only in Australia. It sits high up in the trees and makes a loud rattling song. Its name fits, because it is a real noisemaker.

Lives in

Eastern Australia, from Queensland to northern New South Wales, in open forest, woodland and gardens

Top speed

about 12 km/h (7.5 mph)

Flying, estimate

Can it hurt you?

Harmless

Harmless. Cicadas do not sting, and this one just wants to sing in its tree.

What does it eat?

Like other cicadas, it sucks sap from trees, especially gum trees and bottlebrushes.

Photo of Clanger — Picture by Pezoporus wallicus. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How fast is it?

A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)

Clanger about 12 km/h (7.5 mph)

A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)

A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)

cool stuff

Fun facts

Each of its front wings is about 3 to 4 centimetres long.

It likes to sit on gum trees, angophoras and bottlebrushes.

Its song starts as a rattle and then speeds up into a fast, pulsing crescendo.

You can hear it from October to April, which is the warm part of the year in Australia.

you asked

Most asked questions about Clanger

?Where does the clanger live?

Only in eastern Australia, in forests, woodland and gardens.

?When can you hear the clanger?

From October to April, high up in the trees.

For bug experts

Scientific name: Psaltoda claripennis
Named by: Ashton, 1921
Group: True bugs and cicadas
Family: Cicadidae
Classification: Insecta > Hemiptera > Cicadidae
Lives on: Australia and Oceania

Where the facts come from

Psaltoda claripennis (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
Picture by Pezoporus wallicus. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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