Cicada Journals July 1 to July 5, 2005

07/01/05 - Noted Deformities in Tibicen Cicadas Updated Today.

It's getting on now, I suspect that I will be finding the Tibicen lyricen cicada soon so I'm in a rush to get other areas of the web site done. I've started to add data to the Cicada Deformities page. This data was compiled in the 2004 season and I'm just getting it done now. There's lots of information and theories as to why Cicadas sometime come out deformed and also the different types of deformities.

The first type of deformity I talk about is the failure to eclose (molt from the nymphal shell) properly. I'll be talking about the other types as well.

07/04/05 - New Link Added Today.

Added a new link today in the links panel to the left. This is a new site that I found called "Bugguide". If you want to know about insects then this is the place to go. It is a labor of love diligently maintained by Troy Bartlett an amateur insect enthusiast and photographer. Troy was in Massachusetts a few weeks back and he and I went bug hunting together.

The goal of his site is to build a guide of US and Canadian insects with images and information contributed not only by professionals but by amateurs as well. Your's truely has contributed many insect images as well plenty of Cicadas.

Don't know the name of an insect and you're busting to learn about it? Then submit your image to the ID Request section and someone, chances are, will know what it is.

07/04/05 - First Tibicen lyricens Found Today - 11:15 am

I found my first Tibicen lyricen Cicadas of the season today. Where else but St. Patrick Cemetery? I knew it was getting to be about that time. Last year I started hearing the call of T. canicularis on July 9th. With what I have learned last year, I suspected that Cicadas should be emerging soon (prior to July 9th) so for about a week I have been hunting.

I suspected that a newly emerged male Cicada takes several days for their timbals to develop enough to call for females. I figured that they have to emerge earlier than when one starts to hear them, then the males will wait a few days before they start calling. Sure enough, that's exactly what has happened. There are no Cicadas calling in the trees today but some Cicadas are emerging. The males will hang out, wait for their timbals to develop, then they will start calling.

The first specimen I found was a Tibicen lyricen female on a pine tree at around 11:00 am in the morning. She was several feet away from her exuvium higher in the tree. What's interesting about this female is that she is of the sub species of T. lyricen known as "variation engelhardti". Tibicen lyricen var. engelhardti is a very dark sub species. It has an almost completely black body with just the tiniest hint of brown. I should have dorsal pictures of her soon for you. For now, look at how dark she is in this ventral view to the right. This specimen is only a few hours old. I found a male Tibicen lyricen var. engelhardti last year as well. They are considered quite rare.

The next specimen I found was on a downed branch several feet away from the pine tree where I found the female but also close to an ash tree. I suspect that both of these specimens' host plant was the ash tree as that was where I found a lot of T. lyricen specimens last year. It seems that they do indeed prefer ash trees.

The image on the right shows the same specimen as above but with it's exuvium in the shot. Sorry about the blade of grass that's in the way of the specimen but I was really excited. I don't know why I didn't think about getting a photo shot from the other side. I almost picked up the branch to coax the female that I found on the pine tree with it. I've seen this a lot last year where cicadas molt just about anywhere even on downed branches laying on the ground. Below are thumbnails of the male Tibicen lyricen several hours after molting.

Note: Even though the female eclosed on the pine tree, the ash tree was in proximity to it so I suspect that it too was hosting on the ash tree same as the male but sought out the most convenient place relative to where it emerged from the ground and it found the pine tree like the male found the downed branch.

07/05/05 - A Night Visit To St. Patrick Cemetery - 11:00 pm

11:00 pm - Since I had such dismal luck this afternoon, I decided to head out to St. Patrick Cemetery at around 11:00 pm this evening. It's a real warm night so I figured I'd try my luck now. Even after not being here since last year, being in a cemetery at night really does give me the creeps. But nevertheless, I carry on.

I try my old favorite spots that I used to go to last year in this cemetery like my favorite Ash trees but I am having no luck on those. I try the spot where I found the male and female specimens yesterday and no luck there either, so I try a totally different part of the cemetery.

Sure enough on a beech tree (at least that is what I think it is) where I found only an exuvium yesterday there was a male Tibicen lyricen just finishing up the molt process. I am assuming that I may not have the same type of luck last year with the trees that I visited regularly but may have to try to find other areas of the cemetery that are producing Cicadas and this tree seems to be a really good start. It is in a whole different section of the cemetery. Where I found this specimen there were no Cicadas emerging last year.

I took this Cicada home with me to get some shots but unfortunately, my camera, which is what I used last year is really starting to bug me. I can't seem to get the shots right. The first two thumbnails above are shots taken using the flash so the images to me look a little washed out. The last image with the black background is with no flash and is more representative of this Cicada's true colors in the teneral stage.

Tomorrow, I will put up pictures of this specimen after it hardens and darkens overnight.

The thumbnail to the left is a ventral view of this specimen shortly after completing the eclose process. I like to document the different stages for the Tibicen lyricen pruinosity to develop. Pruinosity is just a white waxy substance that develops in Tibicen Cicadas over time. Tomorrow I will have an updated ventral view and hopefully you will be able to see the pruinosity starting to develop. My apologies for the dark picture but its a clear shot.

07/05/05 - Heard the Call of Tibicen canicularis Today

I went out Cicada hunting today. It was quiet all day wherever I went. I get back home after a dismal day of Cicada hunting around 4:00 pm and right in my own yard a Tibicen canicularis was calling for a mate in a big White Birch tree in my yard. I haven't found any signs of T. canicularis yet but it is clear that T. canicularis and T. lyricen must emerge about the same time, maybe T. canicularis by a week or so earlier. Still no T. lyricen calls yet (just as I figured.)

As promised the thumbnail to the left is a dorsal view shot of the female Tibicen lyricen var. engelhardti I obtained yesterday at St. Patrick cemetery. This is a sub species of the regular Tibicen lyricen. Note the extremely dark color with a very black pronotal collar and an "anchor" shape in the center of the pronotum. Also mesonotum almost completely black. It took a while for me to get just the right shot. My camera is just a point-and-shoot camera so I took about 30 pictures and this was the best one that I liked of them all.

This specimen was very uncoopertive to photograph so I ended up chilling her for a few minutes so that I could take my shots. This is standard practice when trying to photograph an uncooperative insect. She was still for about 5 to 7 minutes then was back to herself again after that. Here's a somewhat blurry lateral view.

On a side note while walking around, I like to snap pictures of other flora and fauna just for fun. While I was trying to snap a picture of a bumble bee on a purple flower, I noticed right below them was this garter snake curled up in a ball among the leaves of this plant. I've never noticed this behavior before for garter snakes as you usually find them under rocks and logs. I've never seen one curled up like this. Perhaps it was hoping for an easy meal of an insect that happened to come by. Garter snakes are non-poisonous snakes but I didn't want to disturb this fella.