Cicada Journals July 1 to July 5, 2006
07/06/08 - First Tibicen lyricen Heard - Westford!
While out this evening after work looking for Cicadas I heard the call of a Tibicen lyricen at Fairview cemetery. Time was 6:04 pm! It called twice then all was silent.
I did find several exuvia on some old well established maple trees. They were a mixture of T. lyricen and T. canicularis. 2 male and 2 female.
The injured T. canicularis Female from July 4th.
Below are a few closeup jots of the T. canicularis female that I damaged on July 4th. I gotta tell you I really love my new camera. You should check out the fine detail. Click on the thumbnails for a closer look.
You may have to temporarily disable your pop-up blocker if you have one.
Pic 1
Pic 2
Pic 3
Pic 4
Pic 5
Pic 6
- Pic 1 - An unusually dark specimen.
- Pic 2 - A closer look.
- Pic 3 - Head shot
- Pic 4 - A closer look of the head.
- Pic 5 - Wing veination
- Pic 6 - Heavy pubescense on the mesonotum.
I will have to re-examine this specimen in a day or two. To be honest, I didn't notice that Tibicen canicularis cicadas can be so furry! Maybe this fuzz get's lost over time. After all, this is only two days from the teneral stage. I will post more pics later on.
07/07/08 - Tibicen canicularis Nymph Found at Pine Crest Cemetery - Chelsmford - 9:30pm.
I was getting pretty discouraged because I hadn't found any nymphs save for the one I discovered on July 4th that I accidentally damaged. As a matter of fact, I was so paranoid about harming this one that I decided to wait then take it when it completed eclosing. Unfortunately, all the pictures I took did not come out to my satisfaction. This guy took well over two hours to complete the eclose process. I didn't get home till very late. I will have photos of the fully formed male adult in a day or two. While waiting I walked around the cemetery snapping photos of other insects. In the process I found an additional female T. canicularis exuvia on a pine tree and a female T. lyricen exuvia on a maple tree.
Call the cops! There's a Strange Guy in the Cemetery!
That's right. One of my favorite cemeteries to visit after dark resulted in the police being summoned because one of the houses bordering the cemetery had an older gentleman living in it who was wondering about the strange guy with a head light on his forehead wandering around snapping pictures around 10:30 pm. I guess I kinda scared him because apparently all he noticed were these strange flashes in the sky and thought I was a ghost! (Not knowing that I was photographing the molting T. canicularis).
Thank goodness that the officer who arrived, I had spoken with earlier in the eveneing and he knew I was there and when I walked over, all was straightened out. You see up here where I live the towns of Westford, Chelmsford, Bedford and a few others leave the cemeteries open all the time. Apparently it is a law that the public must have access at any time to the cemeteries, so there was really nothing no one could do as I wasn't breaking any laws! Besides, I am always respectful of the headstones and the graves. Whenever possible, I even avoid walking over the graves.
Off to Connecticut in the Am!
That's right, I'm going to head down there and go over some previously covered ground and to see about the Tibicen chloromera situation and hopefully find some specimens. The cicadas still haven't called at all up here but maybe they will be calling down in Connecticut. So stay posted!
07/08/06 - How To Tell Gender of Exuvia
Hey all, I don't know if you remember this from last year, but I thought it was important to go over something from last year. Whenever you find an Exuvia (cast-off skin) from a cicada. You can tell if it was a male or a female cicada. Here's how:
Determining Males
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 Females
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.
So, whenever you're out in the field...there you go!
11:00 am - Still No Tibicen Lyricens :( - St. Patrick Cemetery
I was running late today because I was out till 1:00 am last night with that Tibicen canicularis male teneral, waiting for it to complete molting so I got a late start today. (I decided to hold off going to Connecticut til tomorrow.) I hate it that my days studying Cicadas are now relegated to only after work for a few hours and Saturdays and Sundays. Prior to this, a lot of my summers were taken up studying Cicadas full-time cuz I was "slumming it" for a while. However, I can't wait for my vacation! More on that later.
Anyway, this is the first year out of the three that I have been studying Cicadas that I have not found T. lyricens first. Last year and the year before, T. lyricens came first then T. canicularis next. I think it may have something to do with the huge amount of rain we had in May and June. So much so, that a lot of areas saw record rainfall and there was a lot of flooding.
I did however discover today 3 T. lyricen exuvia on the same maple tree that I discovered the exuvia on June 30th. It was 2 females and 1 male. In fact two of them are used above for your reference to determine gender. Click those thumbnails for a closer look.
Heard First T. canicularis male calling at 11:20 am.
That's right at St. Patrick Cemetery. At first it kind of gave a few preliminary calls that sounded all broken-up but eventually he came through loud and clear. Then shortly afterwards another joined in. I'm sure that as the days go on, more and more will join in.
Also found another female T. canicularis exuvia on a pine tree.
07/09/06 - Spent the day in Connecticut.
Hey all, I went to Connecticut today to see what there is to see with regards to Cicadas in Connecticut. With the exception of hearing T. canicularis in some locations there really is nothing to report.
Well, there is something. I did hear the call of T. chloromera once at Elm Grove Cemtery which is where I was hearing them last year. Unfortunately, my other spots that I heard T. chloromera were still silent.
The reason I went back to the places I went last year was to determine if there are really established populations up so far north from T. chloromera's general range. I wanted to make sure that these were not just satellite males, which doesn't seem to be.
I did discover a new Cemetery to Visit called Woodlawn Cemetery. I spent about an hour-and-a-half here and only found one exuvia on a blue spruce tree. It's pretty big so it can only be T. lyricen or T. chloromera. I'm hoping its T. chloromera because that would mean that the species has been so far north for several years at least.
