Description: English: Cacama valvata (Uhler, 1888) - common cactus dodger cicada on Mormon tea plant in Colorado, USA. This cicada is sitting on an Ephedra plant, commonly called "Mormon tea". Ephedra is one of a few plants that defies traditional plant classification. Botanists generally consider it to be an odd gymnosperm or “transitional” between gymnosperms and angiosperms. The high-level taxon “Chlamydospermae” has been established for this and a few other forms. Ephedra is a medium-sized shrub having many stiff, upright to semi-upright, essentially bare branches with regularly spaced nodes. Tiny and scale-like leaves occur at the nodes along the branches. There are between 30 and 40 living species of Ephedra. Species identification generally requires very close examination. It prefers pebbly or sandy soil in cool desert settings. Ephedra is known from many desert environments in the New Wold and much of the Old World. Classification of cicada: Animalia, Arthropoda, Insecta, Hemiptera, Cicadidae Classification of Ephedra: Plantae, Chlamydospermae, Gnetales, Ephedrales, Ephedraceae Locality: No Thoroughfare Canyon, southeastern Colorado National Monument, southwest of the town of Grand Junction, west-central Mesa County, far-western Colorado, USA. Date: 16 June 2007, 12:40:42. Source:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/47445767@N05/23322621064/. Author: James St. John.