White-eyed cicada found by Nathan Voss of Spring Hill, TN. Brood XIX. 2011.
March 19, 2020
White-eyed Magicicada found by Jack Willey of Nashville, TN
White-eyed Magicicada found by Jack Willey of Nashville, TV. 2011. Brood XIX.
March 18, 2020
Megatibicen resh gallery
Megatibicen resh, aka the Resh Cicada. Photos are from the summer of 2018, Dallas, Texas. Photos by me (Dan Mozgai). Read about Megatibicen resh aka the Resh Cicada.
Click/tap the image for a larger version:
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- Megatibicen resh adult
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- Megatibicen resh climbing
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- Megatibicen resh molting
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- Megatibicen resh molting
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- Megatibicen resh molting
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- Megatibicen resh molting
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- Megatibicen resh
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- Megatibicen resh molting
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- Megatibicen resh nymph
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- Megatibicen resh spreading wings
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- Megatibicen resh spreading wings
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- Megatibicen resh wings moved into position
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- Resh, Auletes and Tibicen Exuvia
March 15, 2020
Various Megatibicen and Neotibicen compared
This image was created by Paul Krombholz back when Megatibicen and Neotibicen were just Tibicen.
Top row, left to right:
Neotibicen davisi (formerly Tibicen davisi)
Megatibicen auletes (formerly Tibicen auletes)
Megatibicen figuratus (formerly Tibicen figurata)
Megatibicen pronotalis (formerly Tibicen marginalis)
Bottom row, left to right:
Neotibicen tibicen tibicen (formerly Tibicen chloromera)
Neotibicen pruinosus (formerly Tibicen pruinosa)
Neotibicen lyricen (formerly Tibicen lyricen)
Bill Lesar’s 2005 Megatibicen dorsatus Gallery
Bill Lesar’s 2005 Megatibicen dorsatus Gallery. The genus of this cicada changed from Tibicen to Neotibicen, and not it is Megatibicen (circa 2020).
February 29, 2020
Squashed Megatibicen auletes
Squashed Megatibicen auletes. Not sure who stepped on it. It’s an interesting look at its anatomy.
Megatibicen auletes found in Winston-Salem, NC by Erin Dickinson
Megatibicen auletes found in Winston-Salem, NC by Erin Dickinson. The year was 2011. The cicada’s name was Mortimer. No kidding.
Megatibicen resonans photos by Joe Green
Neotibicen resonans photos by Joe Green from 2007, taken in Florida.
February 18, 2019
The Curious Case of Cultriformis in California
Megatibicen cultriformis (Davis, 1915), aka the Grand Western Flood Plain Cicada, is large cicada found in the states Arizona and New Mexico in the U.S. and in Mexico. According to the Biogeography of the Cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) of North America, North of Mexico by Allen F. Sanborn and Polly K. Phillips, it is found in the Mexican Highland Section of the Basin and Range Province of the Sonoran Desert, and is associated with cottonwood and willow trees1.
Over the weekend, cicada collector Richard Newfrock emailed me some cicada photos for identification. Amongst those photos was what appears to be Megatibicen cultriformis labeled Escondido, Cal[iforia]. I asked Richard about the location, and sure enough, he said they were found in a pool in Escondido. I double-checked the species and location with top-tier cicada experts Jeffery Cole and David Marshall. From our conversation, I believe they agreed that the cicadas appeared to be M. cultriformis and that Escondido is far from its normal range (about 400 miles away).
Female (left), Male (right). Found floating in a pool.
So, how did these cicadas Megatibicen cultriformis end up in Escondido? More than likely, if they are truly M. cultriformis, they hitchhiked on a tree transported from Arizona to California — or as David Marshall said to me in an email, “it’s at least possible that cultriformis could have been introduced on the roots of saplings transplanted from Arizona”.
Does anyone in the Escondido area want to listen for these cicadas in the summer and report back to us if you hear them?
Listen to its song:
Source: ©Insect Singers
Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadinae
Tribe: Cryptotympanini
SubTribe: Cryptotympanina
Genera: Megatibicen
Species: Megatibicen cultriformis (Davis, 1915)
William T Davis’s description from A New Cicada from Arizona2:
Resembles Cicada marginata Say [now called Megatibicen pronotalis walkeri Metcalf, 1955] in size, color, and markings. Head black with an oblong greenish yellow spot each side between the eyes and a small spot of the same color on the front just above the transverse rugae. Pronotum greenish yellow with a large, conspicuous black spot occupying the fore part of its central area. The hind margin of the pronotum (collar) is entirely unicolorous as in marginata. The mesonotum is black, with a pruinose band each side at the base of the wings; the elevated x is greenish yellow, and there are two conspicuous, irregularly formed (pipe-shaped) greenish yellow spots occupying its central portion. The tergum is black, each side broadly margined with pruinose, and the segments have their posterior margins yellowish. There is also an indication of a dorsal line of pruinose spots on the tergum, which in the type have been nearly worn off. Beneath the head is blackish, the remainder of the insect being greenish yellow and more or less pruinose. The costal margin of the fore wing is entirely greenish yellow, darkened beyond the middle, and the w-mark is inconspicuous. Both fore and hind wings are greenish-yellow at base, with the veins darkened beyond the middle.
Note that greens often fade to tannish colors after a cicada dies.
Trivia: In Latin, “cultr” means knife, and “form” means shape — cultriformis means knife-shaped. Davis named cultriformis because “uncus locks, which are s millimeters long in cultriformis, and when seen in profile are shaped like the blade of a pruning knife, hence the name.” The uncus is the male genitalia.
Resources:
- Location and habitat info: Biogeography of the Cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) of North America, North of Mexico by Allen F. Sanborn and Polly K. Phillips. Diversity 2013, 5, 166-239.
- A New Cicada from Arizona. Davis, William T. 1915. Journal of the New York Entomological Society. Vol 23. Pages 239-241.Read it on biodiversitylibrary.org.
August 6, 2018
Megatibicen resh aka the Resh Cicada
Megatibicen resh (formerly Neotibicen resh and Tibicen resh) is commonly known as the Resh Cicada because the markings on its back resemble the Hebrew symbol Resh “ר”. The Resh Cicada has been documented to be found in Arkansas, Kansas, Lousiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennesee, and Texas.
Most people will discover them by finding their exuvia (shed skins, “shells”) on trees, or by their striking calls at sunset. I first encountered this cicada in Dallas, Texas near Pioneer Plaza (cattle sculptures). First I found the exuvia on oak trees (I needed a 3′ stick added to my 8′ reach to knock them down), and then at sunset I heard their call (which I mistook for M. auletes (which is not in Texas)). Listen to their song.
It is one of the smaller Megatibicen — maybe only M. dealbatus is smaller. Compare sizes using this image by Kathy Hill. Its compound eyes are gray-beige, with a black “mask” between the eyes, and its simple eyes are pink. Its ventral side is white and caramel colored. Its dorsal side is dominated by a light green color, with black, brown and white — forming a symmetrical camouflage pattern — which helps to hide the cicada in its arboreal habitat. Recently molted, golden pruinose shimmers on its head, pronotum, mesonotum, and abdomen.
During the molting process, up until the cicada’s body sclerotizes (hardens), the cicada’s body is leaf-green (camouflaged like a hanging leaf).
The exuvia of the Resh cicada is large and easy to spot, even high up in trees. Even though molted adults are closer in size to N. tibicen than M. auletes, the exuvia of M. resh is comparable to M. auletes, which is the largest cicada in North America.
More photos from this series: Megatibicen resh gallery.
