Cicada Journals July 1 to July 5, 2006
07/01/06 - 7/02/06 - Not Much To Report - Still Can't Find Okanagana :(
After the recent discovery of my first exuvia of the year on June 30th, my hopes were high for finding Okanagana. But unfortunately, I had no success at all. I spent this Forth of July weekend going all over Bedford and Concord without any luck. I did find some potentially good spots for annual Cicadas though!
I found a few cemeteries that look promising. One was Shawsheen Cemetery, right off of Beford Center. This place is huge with tons of old and well established trees. I'll have to target this one this year. In addition, there are a few really old cemeteries in Concord just off of it's center that are also looking good. Even the Concord cemetery has a huge honey bee colony that took up residence in an old Maple tree. It will be very interesting to observe this. From a distance of course :)
07/03/06 - Another Exuvia Found af Fairview Cemetery - Westford, Ma. 11:10 pm.
Not much to report here either. After checking out the entire cemetery which took me a few hours. I only managed to find one exuvia on a pine tree. I suspect it is T. canicularis due to its size. Unfortunately, I was not able to tell gender because the dip of the abdomen was stuck in heavy pine resin. When I removed the shell, it just crumbled to nothing. Oh, well, enjoy the pictures though!
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07/04/06 - First Nymph of the Season at St. Patrick Cemetery!
Well, like clockwork, just like last year, I found my first nymph of the season this year. Unfortunately, this year, there was a little mishap. This nymph was about nine feet up on a pine tree out of my reach. But I still wanted it because it hadn't molted yet. I found a nearby branch and tried to coax the nymph onto the branch but unfortunately, instead of going on the branch it ended up falling with a rather disheartening "thump" onto the hard dirt. I picked it up to examine it, and I discovered that it was injured.
The end result is the sequence of photos I took below. It should be noted that this was a female Tibicen canicularis. This is the first year that I have discovered a T. canicularis BEFORE T. lyricen. We've had a ton of rain this spring with a lot of flooding all over the state of Massachusetts. I hope this didn't hurt the T. lyricens. Oh well, only time will tell. This specimen ended up having a busted wing becuase of it's fall. But on the bright side, I really love my new camera my girlfriend bought for me for Christmas. It takes super shots! Check it out for yourself.
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- Pic 1 - A picture taken with flash. Notice the dark outline around the wing bud. This spells trouble for this nymph.
- Pic 2 - The back starts to split down the center from the pronotum to the mesonotum.
- Pic 3 - Head shot
- Pic 4 - The split grows wider.
- Pic 5 - ...and wider.
- Pic 6 -...and still wider.
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- Pic 7 - The back split at its maximum. Now the cicada teneral will pull its head out.
- Pic 8 - A closer look.
- Pic 9 - A shot at the gap inside the pronotal collar and the top of the mesonotum. Look at all the bristly hairs on the mesonotum!
- Pic 10 - The head is finally out. Check out the oscelli (the three small red dots in a triangle between the two compound eyes.)
- Pic 11 - ... here's a closer look.
- Pic 12 -... The cicada teneral starts to wiggle out of the exuvium.
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- Pic 13 - A ventral view. This is my first indication that it is a female. Note the moist cuticular strands attached to the beak and on either side of the cicada. These eventually dry and snap off.
- Pic 14 - The cicada hangs precariously up-side-down by its abdomen which is lodged inside the exuvium. It will hang like this for approximately 35 - 45 minutes. The reason it waits so long is due to the fact that it's own legs won't be able to support it's weight. They are still soft, so they will have to harden.
- Pic 15 - Lateral view of three fore, mid and hind legs and the tissue-like wing.
- Pic 16 - A closup of the wing before expansion.
- Pic 17 - A lateral view showing the cicada's ovipositor at the bottom.
- Pic 18 - A closeup sot of the ovipositor and the posterior abdomen.
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- Pic 19 - Dorsal view showing a damaged wing. The result of this nymph's fall from high.
- Pic 20 - Wing venation of the good wing.
I will have a set of photos of the fully developed adult. Now its time to try some experiments!!
07/05/06 - Pine Grove Cemetery - Still No Cicada Killers - 5:30 pm.
I decided to head out immediately after work today in my "good clothese" to see what there is to see with my new cool camera. I decided to head on over to Pine Grove Cemetery in Westford to see if the Cicada Killers have emerged yet.
NOTHING! I'm getting pretty bummed out from the lack of Cicada Killers. Maybe the season is still too early here for them. I have been getting reports that they have been out since June in other parts of the country. I wonder if the grounds-keeper here has managed to kill them? If he did that would be pretty tough to do.
I did discover this T. canicularis female on a pine tree at the cemetery which is surprising since this is the first type of specimen I've ever found here. Maybe if I visit this place more often, I'll actually find some live specimans! Oh well, click the thumbnail to enlarge.
