Present status of mountain cicadas Cicadetta montana (sensu lato) in Europe

During the last ten years it became clear that Cicadetta montana (Scopoli 1772) is not a single species but a complex of closely related, morphologically similar species of singing cicadas. The best differential characters are the diverse, species specific song patterns. Till now, in the Palaearctic, on the basis of songs at least ten species of this complex have been discovered, but a half of them have not been described yet. According to calling song characteristics 3 main groups of species are proposed which with one exception correspond to three clades based on DNA analyses. Song characteristics of one new species do not fit in any of the proposed groups.