Psaltoda plaga
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
Psaltoda plaga is a species of cicada native to eastern Australia, from Maryborough in central Queensland to Bega in southern New South Wales. Adult cicadas appear over the summer and inhabit forested areas near bodies of water. The predominantly black form from the Sydney and Central Coast regions is commonly known as the black prince, while the term silver knight is used for the species as a whole.
The black prince was originally described by German naturalist Ernst Friedrich Germar in 1834 as Cicada argentata, the species name derived from the Latin argentum "silver". Swedish entomologist Carl Stål defined the new genus Psaltoda in 1861 with three species, including the black prince as Psaltoda argentata. Meanwhile, English entomologist Francis Walker described Cicada plaga in 1850 as well as querying further specimens as Cicada argentata. He noted in 1858 that the binomial Cicada argentata had been used by a European species, and declared that Germar's cicada needed a new name. The older combination was ruled invalid as the binomial name Cicada argentata had been originally used for a European cicada now known as Cicadetta argentata, and the black prince became Psaltoda... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Royal National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 2 | Blue Mountains National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 3 | Springbrook National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sydney | 🇦🇺 Australia |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Black Prince sighting in Sydney on a given day, based on 892 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 2nd most-seen of the 742 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 50%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
December to February
In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Black Prince in Sydney on a given day, against under 5% in May to September, the lowest months.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Black Prince sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Sydney, in our data
Sydney is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Black Prince sightings: about 20% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black Prince is recorded against all the insects logged in Sydney (892 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.
