Aleeta curvicosta
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
Aleeta is a monotypic genus of cicadas containing the species Aleeta curvicosta (commonly known as the floury baker or floury miller, known until 2003 as Abricta curvicosta), one of Australia's most familiar insects. Native to the continent's eastern coastline, it was described in 1834 by Ernst Friedrich Germar.
The floury baker's distinctive appearance and loud call make it popular with children. Both the common and genus name are derived from the white, flour-like filaments covering the adult body. Its body and eyes are generally brown with pale patterns including a light-coloured line along the midline of the pronotum. Its forewings have distinctive dark brown patches at the base of two of their apical cells. The female is larger than the male, although species size overall varies geographically, with larger animals associated with regions of higher rainfall. The male has distinctive genitalia and a loud and complex call generated by the frequent buckling of ribbed tymbals and amplified by abdominal air sacs.
The floury baker is solitary and occurs in low densities. Individuals typically emerge from the soil through a three-month period from late November to late February, and can be encountered until May. The floury baker is found on a wide variety of trees, with some preference for species of paperbark (Melaleuca). It is a relatively poor flier, preyed upon by cicada killer wasps and a wide variety of birds, and can succumb to a cicada-specific fungal disease. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Royal National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 2 | Blue Mountains National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 3 | Springbrook National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Floury Baker sighting in Brisbane on a given day, based on 92 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 169th most-seen of the 1083 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Floury Baker in Brisbane on a given day, against under 5% in April to November, the lowest months. That is one of Brisbane's wettest months, with about 140 mm of rain against 40 mm in July.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Floury Baker sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
2nd of 2
Of the 2 cities where we can rate Floury Baker sightings, Brisbane ranks 2nd at about 10%. The best odds are in Sydney (Australia, about 20%).
Same family: Cicadidae
The closest relatives of the Floury Baker that you can see in Brisbane (family Cicadidae, Typical Cicadas) are Brown Bunyip (about 10%), Clanger (about 10%) and Black Tree-Ticker (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Floury Baker is recorded against all the insects logged in Brisbane (92 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
