Cicada Journals and Archives - August 16 to August 18, 2005

08/16/05 - T. chloromera in Connecticut - New Page Added Today

I have created a detailed account of my trip to Connecticut with Mike Neckermann. On this page is information on where we went and what we did. I go a little more in-depth with regards to the mating behavior that we witnessed with our captured specimens.

There is even some sounds of T. chloromera chorussing and the alarm squawk of the male we captured that day. I'll be heading back to Connecticut this Thursday August 18, 2005 to see if we can track the northern most edge of their range.

Stay Posted.

08/17/05 - Sex Education - Determining Gender of Cast off Cicada Skins (Exuvia)

Hey. Look at the picture above and to the right at the top of this web page. See that brown thing? That is a cast off nymphal skin (exuvium) of a Tibicen lyricen cicada. Pretty cool huh? Ever wonder what the sex of something like that is? Well, just recently I learned the trick to determine which gender of cicada left the nymphal skin behind, a girl cicada or a boy cicada.

To be honest, I could never figure it out until recently. And in the spirit of what this web site is about and I quote:

I'm going to try to learn something and to let others know what I learn by taking careful field notes and documenting everything that I see as it pertains to Cicadas in Massachusetts. Who knows? Maybe we can learn something together.

Determining Boy Cicadas

A cicada exuvium's abdomen is divided into sections or "sternites". There are 9 total sternites on Cicada nymphal skins. At the very tip (9th sternite) you can make out a "bulbous" structure. This nymphal skin contained a male cicada.

Determining Girl Cicadas

Girl Cicadas also have this "bulbous" structure at the 9th sternite. But unlike males, females have two cylindrical-type structures at the 8th sternite. These structures are also known as "processes". Between you and me I'd tell you what they REALLY look like but this is a family site. Compare the two, I'm sure you can clearly see the difference now.

Special Note: Thanks to Roy Troutman for the use of his images and for taking the time to share this with me. Visit Roy Troutman's Cicada Galleries on Cicadamania.

Itinerary for the Next Few Days

Well, tomorrow 8/18/05 I'm heading back to Connecticut to hook up with Mike Neckermann. Together we are going to try to document the northern-most edge of Tibicen chloromera in Hartford County. Can you imagine that? In Hartford County! I still can't get over the fact that the most latest documenation on Tibicen chloromera's northern most range is only in Fairfield County which is the south western part of the state. We've heard, seen and captured specimens from at least 100 miles further north! That's totally amazing to me.

I'm still hoping that T. chloromera's range goes into Massachusetts. Other than that one rogue T. chloromera in my back yard on the 8/10/05 there have been no sitings of T. chloromeras in Massachusetts.

Cicadas From New Zealand

Also, my friend Kees from New Zealand sent in 18 total cicadas from New Zealand and I am in the middle of photographing them for an article at a later date. I sure do wish that our cicadas were as colorful as these specimens he sent in. These are also very very small compared to our large big and bumbly Tibicens here! Wait till you see the pictures.

Currently in New Zealand, it is their off season for Cicadas. Kees and I have been talking and he is willing to send in articles and pictures of Cicadas in New Zealand when it starts there. So that during our off season for Cicadas in the US, he will report what he collects there in New Zealand. Another cool idea I think.

So, all year round, there should be some Cicada information on this web site. Which is getting me to think that maybe I should change the name of this web site from Massachusetts Cicadas to something else. After all I have been spending a lot of time in Connecticut then there's Kees's New Zealand Cicadas.

Oh well, only time will tell I suppose. Anyway, thanks for all the emails and questions and don't forget to report your Cicada Killer findings in New England.

08/17/05 - Additional Cicada Specimens added to Morphologies Section

I just added another male Tibicen canicularis specimen to the Morphologies in Tibicen canicularis cicadas page. I still haven't managed to collect any female specimens yet, but I really haven't been looking that hard because I've been busy with other cicada related things and haven't really gone out looking lately.

I also created an addtional Morphologies page for the three specimens of Tibicen chloromera that were collected in Connecticut last week. Hopefully, I will be able to collect more.

08/18/05 - Tibicen Chloromera's Northern Most Range Extended in Connecticut.

I just wanted to let you all know that my trip to Connecticut was very fruitful. I was able to get within 7 miles of the Massachusetts border before I could no longer hear Tibicen chloromera. However, it was a really cool day today even in Connecticut and it took a while for T. chloromera to start singing. So some of the places I didn't hear it may actually have them so yet another trip is planned for this Monday August 22. Below is a breakdown of where I went and where T. chloromera was heard:

All areas are west of the Connecticut River; I couldn't hear any calling on the eastern side. But that may change when I go back next week and conditions are favorable.

Town: Poquonock - Rte 75 South
County: Hartford
Location: Strawberry Hills Area.

Notes: Right along North Side of Farmington River very close to Bradley International. The T. chloromera were very slow to get going sounded almost sluggish.

From Strawberry Hills Area, crossed to South Side of Farmington River and continued South on Rt 75

Town: Windsor - Rt 75 North
County: Hartford
Location: Elm Grove Cemetery 10:36 am -

This place had a huge population though I suppose the day was warming up.

Town: Windsor - Reservoir Rd.
County: Hartford
Location: Camp Shalom

From Elm Grove Cemetery, turned around and went North on Rt 75. Took left onto Reservoir Road heading west. This road winds along Rainbow Reservoir. Stopped at Camp Shalome heard T. lyricen, T. canicularis and T. chloromera.

Town: East Granby - Reservoir Rd/187 North
County: Hartford
Location: Package store on Resevoir Road

From Camp Shalom, turned around and continued east along Reservoir Rd to route 187 at the eastern border of East Granby and Windsor. T. chloromera here too. Stopped at a package store to get directions. I decided to not head further west into East Granby because I wanted to find the northern-most range before time ran out.

Town: Windsor Locks - Rte 159 North
County: Hartford
Location: Windsor Locks Train Station 11:46 am

Heard several male T. chloromera calling in bushes along train tracks at train station.

Windsor Locks is approximately 6 - 7 miles from the southern Massachusetts border.

The next town I visited was Suffield. This town seemed to be teeming with T. lyricen, T. canicularis and T. linnei but NO T. chloromera. Suffield is about 4 miles from southern Mass border.

All these areas were along the Connecticut Rivers's western side. I then went over to the eastern side into Hazardville along route 190 but heard nothing but it was about 12:15 pm so T. chloromera may have just shut off. But who knows, maybe the cicadas are scared to cross the river?

I Hate My Tools!!

So I got one of those digital cameras that can also take moves and sounds. But man I'm getting tired of it. I managed to record the calling song of one of the male T. chloromeras at Elk Grove Cemetery. Unfortunately, you STILL may have to turn up the sound on your speakers to hear it. This doesn't make any sense as I was standing like 4 feet in front of it.

Hopefully some day I will be able to afford something fancier like the "big boys' use.

T. chloromera calling song.

A Large Female T. canicularis Found In Sturbridge, Ma.

I ran across this small cemetery right on the eastern side of route 20 on my way home. Since I like to check cemeteries for cicada activity I figured this was a good place to break for lunch.

I found many exuvia and since I recently learned to tell the difference between male and female cicada skins (see the posting below) I decided to start to count females vs males emergences.

It seems that I have been noticing a trend. At the beginning of a Cicada season, more males seem to emerge than females at a ratio of about 5 to 1 then during the middle of the season, it is about even. Towards the end of the season, the ratios seem to switch and more females emerge than males. Well, I don't have any hard data to back up this claim, starting next year, I will have to take careful notes of all the exuvia that I examine.

I did manage to find a Tibicen canicularis female on the ground at the base of a pine tree. At first I thought that perhaps it had oviposited (laid its eggs) then died. But when I picked it up, it started fluttering and flapping like cicadas do then it attempted to play dead which is a behavior that I have noted many times with Cicadas.

What makes this specimen unusual is its rather large size. It is 45mm long including the wings with a 38 mm wing length which puts it at the maximum end for wing length in a Tibicen canicularis. At first I thought it may be a Tibicen linnei (Lynn's Cicada) but that species is known to have a slight "bend" along the outer edge of the front fore wings which this one does not so I will have to conclude that it is Tibicen canicularis.

The size is another way that you can get confused as to the identity of cicadas. Not only are there slight variations in color but size can also be a factor. I can only speculate that the size variations may be due to good or bad nutritional intake during its long developmental period under ground. Maybe the tree that was its host was doing poorly or maybe too much competition for food which may result in some cicadas being under or over-developed. Another factor could be the use of fertilizers and pesticides as well.

Anyway, enjoy the pictures below. Click on the thumbnails for a larger view.