Fossil of Eoplatypleura messelensis, the oldest known cicada, discovered in Germany’s Messel Pit and dating back 47 million years to the Eocene Epoch. Senckenberg Nature Museum
ScienceNews has a story about the first cicada concert. Fossil cicadas from Messel Pit in Germany suggests the first singing cicadas date to the Eocene some 47 million years ago. The fossil of Eoplatypleura messelensis, was collected around 1986 and identified as a cicada in 1988. Unfortunately, the researchers didn't realize it was the oldest singing cicada. The new research was published in the journal Scientific Reports.
Jiang was surprised to find not one but two singing cicada fossils from the Eocene. The two adult female specimens were both preserved in oil shale, a fine-grained rock that locks in delicate details. The fossils were from the Messel Pit, a famous fossil site near Darmstadt, Germany. A close look at their wings showed the insects measured about 26.5 millimeters long with a wingspan of 68.2 millimeters, and their wing vein patterns revealed they belonged to the Platypleurini tribe — a group of modern singing cicadas that had no fossil record until now.
“Cicadas are capable of producing some of the loudest sounds among all insects,” says Jiang, now at the University of Bonn in Germany. Though typically only male cicadas sing, finding the two fossilized Platypleurini females from the Eocene offers clues about the history of the insects’ song. Earlier fossils from other cicada groups had previously suggested the insects started singing around 30 million years ago.
