Green Bark Cicada (Dundubia vaginata) - Sikkim Insect

 

This green visitor is a cicada from the family Cicadidae, genus Dundubia, and species Dundubia vaginata. People usually call it the Green Bark Cicada, but here in Sikkim and our Himalayan hills, everyone affectionately knows it as Jhyākirī (झ्याँकिरी). Whenever you hear that sharp, buzzing choir echoing from the trees on a warm afternoon, it is this little singer making all the music!

Even though they look a bit scary, Jhyākirī do not bite or sting at all. They are gentle forest helpers. As babies, they sleep underground, digging tiny tunnels that help the soil breathe. When they finally grow wings and climb into our trees, their cheerful songs tell farmers that rainy days are here, while also providing a rich meal for hungry birds, squirrels, and lizards.

These insects thrive across the warm, lush valleys of Sikkim, Northeast India, and Southeast Asia. Long ago, way back in 1787, a European scientist named Johan Fabricius wrote about them in his diary, and British explorers later mapped them across our Teesta basin.