Cicadetta karandila sp. n. (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha: Cicadidae) a new cryptic species of singing cicada from the Bulgarian mountains

In recent years, bioacoustic studies on Cicadetta montana s. l. have revealed the presence of morphologically cryptic species. This paper describes a new cicada species, Cicadetta karandila sp. n., discovered on the Stara Planina Mountain and the Sarnena Sredna Gora Mountain (Balkan Mountains, central Bulgaria). As with other species of the complex, no reliable morphological differences were found between the new species and the other species of the complex. Bioacoustically, the new species belongs to the »cerdaniensis« song group, species of which share double echemes with a first low-intensity part followed without interruption by a very short high-intensity part. The calling song comprises three phrases and is modulated to four power levels and three or probably four frequency ranges. Phrases 1 and 3 consist of evenly distributed (ungrouped) single echemes with different repetition rates, while phrase 2 contains double echemes that are very short at the beginning of the phrase and smoothly change into longer echemes after a few repetitions. This species is currently only known to be endemic to the central part of the Balkan Mountains in Bulgaria, where it is native to forests and ecotone habitats. Owing to this limited distribution, this species is probably vulnerable to habitat and climate change.