A. Male uncus not hooked at the extremity, sometimes sinuate.
B. Expanse of fore wings more than 50 mm.
C. Base of fore and hind wings orange-red more or less variegated with black.
DD. The outer edge of the front wing of a more continuous curve. Medium-sized species, except schaefferi, which is large.
EE. Legs, especially the front pair considerably blackened.
FF. Dull bodied species or at most feebly shining, with proportionately narrower wings, and the hind margin of pronotum orange or reddish, except in tristis where it is black. Dorsum of the abdomen often with conspicuous transverse rows of short silvery hairs.
Basal cell of fore wings slightly clouded, pronotum blackish mottled each side with testaceous, the hind margin and sides reddish. Tergum with the posterior edges of the segments reddish, the vestiture more sparse than in canadensis and more in the nature of hairs. Expands about 60 mm.
Davis, William T. Cicadas of the genera Okanagana, Tibicinoides and Okanagodes, with descriptions of several new species. Journal of the New York Entomological Society. v27. 179-223. 1919. Link.
Full Binomial Names: ITIS.gov
Common names: BugGuide.net; The Songs of Insects by Lang Elliott and Wil Herschberger; personal memory.
Locations: Biogeography of the Cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) of North America, North of Mexico by Allen F. Sanborn and Polly K. Phillips.
Descriptions, Colors: personal observations from specimens or photos from many sources. Descriptions are not perfect, but may be helpful.
Notes:
Some descriptions are based on aged specimens which have lost some or a lot of their color.
Davis, William T. Cicadas of the genera Okanagana, Tibicinoides and Okanagodes, with descriptions of several new species. Journal of the New York Entomological Society. v27. 179-223. 1919. Link.
Full Binomial Names: ITIS.gov
Common names: BugGuide.net; The Songs of Insects by Lang Elliott and Wil Herschberger; personal memory.
Locations: Biogeography of the Cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) of North America, North of Mexico by Allen F. Sanborn and Polly K. Phillips.
Descriptions, Colors: personal observations from specimens or photos from many sources. Descriptions are not perfect, but may be helpful.
Notes:
Some descriptions are based on aged specimens which have lost some or a lot of their color.
A. Male uncus not hooked at the extremity, sometimes sinuate.
B. Expanse of fore wings more than 50 mm.
C. Base of fore and hind wings orange-red more or less variegated with black.
DD. The outer edge of the front wing of a more continuous curve. Medium-sized species, except schaefferi, which is large.
EE. Legs, especially the front pair considerably blackened.
F. Shining species with rather broad wings, and the hind margin of pronotum orange or reddish.
Of a slightly blueish tint, otherwise colored about as in the last species, but the costal margin of the fore wings to the end of the radial cell often bright orange, the basal cell clouded sometimes blackened. Pronotum usually plainly edged with orange on sides as well as on hind margin. Head not as blunt when viewed from above as in occidentalis, proportionately narrower and with little hair behind the eyes, also less hairy beneath. The last ventral segment of the female not doubly notched, or the second notch but feebly indicated. Expands about 60 mm.
Davis, William T. Cicadas of the genera Okanagana, Tibicinoides and Okanagodes, with descriptions of several new species. Journal of the New York Entomological Society. v27. 179-223. 1919. Link.
Full Binomial Names: ITIS.gov
Common names: BugGuide.net; The Songs of Insects by Lang Elliott and Wil Herschberger; personal memory.
Locations: Biogeography of the Cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) of North America, North of Mexico by Allen F. Sanborn and Polly K. Phillips.
Descriptions, Colors: personal observations from specimens or photos from many sources. Descriptions are not perfect, but may be helpful.
Notes:
Some descriptions are based on aged specimens which have lost some or a lot of their color.
Description: Tan or pea green, brown, black, and sometimes white pruinose. Wing color matches dominant color of body. Often features a black marking on pronotum.
Description: Coloration varies from rusty browns to greens, on black. Sounds like an angle grinder. Song is similar to N. canicularis & N. davisi, and looks like N. davisi.
There are two subspecies of Neocicada hieroglyphica: Neocicada hieroglyphica hieroglyphica (Say, 1830) and Neocicada hieroglyphica johannis (Walker, 1850). According to Wm. T. Davis, a key difference is: on N. hieroglyphica johannis, “the black marks on the head, pronotum and mesonotum are more in the form of spots than of continuous lines as in typical hieroglyphica”.
Short Names: N. hieroglyphica hieroglyphica and N. hieroglyphica johannis
Former name/synonyms: Cicada hieroglyphica
Common Name: Hieroglyphic Cicada
When: May-August. Peaks in June.
Where are they found: N. hieroglyphica hieroglyphica is found in AL, AR, DE, FL, GA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MD, MS, MO, NJ, NY, NC, OH, OK, SC, TN, TX, VA, and N. hieroglyphica johannis is found in Florida
A description by Wm. T. Davis from MISSISSIPPI CICADAS, WITH A KEY TO THE SPECIES OF THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES1:
Cicada hieroglyphica Say.
Occurs from Riverhead, Long Island, N. Y., to eastern Kansas and southward. In peninsular Florida the variety johannis Walker replaces the typical form. The black marks on the head, pronotum and mesonotum are more in the form of spots than of continuous lines as in typical hieroglyphica.
The song does not continue long, but sometimes, as in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey, the insects appear in numbers, when their united effort produces a considerable noise.
(1) Davis, W.T. 1918. MISSISSIPPI CICADAS, WITH A KEY TO THE SPECIES OF THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES. Journal New York Entomological Society. Volume 26. Read it on Archive.org.
Full Binomial Names: ITIS.gov
Common names: BugGuide.net; The Songs of Insects by Lang Elliott and Wil Herschberger; personal memory.
Locations: Biogeography of the Cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) of North America, North of Mexico by Allen F. Sanborn and Polly K. Phillips.
Descriptions, Colors: personal observations from specimens or photos from many sources. Descriptions are not perfect, but may be helpful.
Notes:
Some descriptions are based on aged specimens which have lost some or a lot of their color.
Neotibicen tibicen tibicen (Linnaeus, 1758) aka Swamp Cicada or Morning Cicada. Morning because it sings in the morning. There is another sub-species of Neotibicen tibicen names Neotibicen tibicen australis. The key difference between the two is australis has a mostly green collar, while tibicen’s collar is black.
Where it is found: AL, AR, CT, DE, DC, FL, GA, IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, LA, MD, MA, MI, MS, MO, NE, NJ, NY, NC, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, VT, VA, WV, WI
Description: Swamp Cicadas are are known for their rounded, humped back. Their coloration varies from mostly black & some green to black, brown and green. Their collar is usually black, but can include green.
At the time Davis wrote this key Neotibicen tibicen tibicen was named Tibicen sayi.
A. Large, heavy bodied species ; head broad, uncus simple, and first cross vein in the fore wings starting from radius 3 far back, or about one third distant from base of first marginal cell.
B. Uncus longer than broad. Black species with green or greenish markings and black area on the central part of the abdomen beneath, except in sayi [sayi = Neotibicen tibicen tibicen]
CC. Hind margin of pronotum or collar black or nearly so (except in sayi \ar. australis).
DD. Central area of the abdomen not black beneath, often
pruinose, as well as the long opercula.
Collar black, often with a greenish spot each side near the outer angles sayi (Smith & Grossbeck).
Teneral (soft) and sclerotized (hard) N.tibicen tibicen
This is France’s Walker’s description from List of the specimens of homopterous insects in the collection of the British Museum, Francis Walker, edited by John Edward Gray, Supplement, (2 p. l., 369, [1] p.) issued in 1858, 1850. Link to document.
Walker named the cicada Thopha chloromera, and once the Tibicen genus was constructed, its name changed to Tibicen chloromerus (Walker,1850). But… Carl Linneaus had previously named it Cicada tibicen in 1758, and once the Neotibicen genus was constructed, its name became Neotibicen tibicen (Linnaeus, 1758).
That said, Walker’s description is still valid and useful:
First cross-vein nearly straight, very slanting, forming an extremely obtuse angle, parted from the second by more than thrice its length; second curved, very slanting, forming an extremely obtuse angle, longer than the first; third slightly waved, slanting, forming a right angle; fourth slightly waved, slanting, forming an acute angle, a little longer than the third; fifth almost upright, very slightly curved, forming- a nearly right angle. Body black above, tawny and tinged with green beneath : head a little narrower than the fore-chest, adorned with several small tawny marks, and on each side of the front with one of larger size ; face slightly convex, not at all prominent, adorned with a pale tawny elliptical mark, tawny with blackish bands on each side in front : mouth tawny with a pitchy tip, reaching the middle-hips : eyes rather prominent : scutcheon of the fore-chest adorned with two oblique black stripes, which are united behind; fore border black excepting a little interval in the middle ; hind-scutcheon adorned on each side with three greenish- tawny spots, one large, the other two small ; sides not angular, but slightly excavated in front and slightly convex near the base of each fore-wing : scutcheon of the middle-chest adorned with a tawny slender double U-shaped mark whose inner sides are interrupted in front and behind ; on each side of this are two oblique tawny stripes which are united behind ; the middle pair are broader than the outer pair, and their inner sides are excavated ; hind border slightly excavated in the middle ; cross-ridge tawny : abdomen obconical, longer than the chest, black above, tawny beneath : drums very large, pale tawny, much more than half the length of the abdomen, slightly overlapping : legs green, streaked with tawny; fore-thighs armed with two stout black teeth ; spines of the hind-shanks ferruginous with black tips : wings colourless, bright green at the base ; veins ferruginous, green towards the base and along half the length of the fore border ; first and second cross-veins clouded with brown. Length of the body 17 lines; of the wings 48 lines.
Davis, W.T. 1918. Mississippi Cicadas, with a Key to the Species of the Southeastern United States. Journal of The New York Entomological Society. Vol. XXVI. Read on archive.org.
Full Binomial Names: ITIS.gov
Common names: BugGuide.net; The Songs of Insects by Lang Elliott and Wil Herschberger; personal memory.
Locations: Biogeography of the Cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) of North America, North of Mexico by Allen F. Sanborn and Polly K. Phillips.
Descriptions, Colors: personal observations from specimens or photos from many sources. Descriptions are not perfect, but may be helpful.
Notes:
Some descriptions are based on aged specimens which have lost some or a lot of their color.
Description: Like the Scissor Grinder, the Eastern Scissor Grinder seems to have more of an orange hue to the arches on its mesonotum, perhaps even more so than the Scissor Grinder.
A. Large, heavy bodied species ; head broad, uncus simple, and first cross vein in the fore wings starting from radius 3 far back, or about one third distant from base of first marginal cell.
B. Uncus longer than broad. Black species with green or greenish markings and black area on the central part of the abdomen beneath
C. Hind margin of pronotum or collar, green or greenish.
Dorsum of abdomen with the hind margin of the segments more or less brown and generally but a trace of pruinose stripe each side on segment three.
Davis, W.T. 1918. Mississippi Cicadas, with a Key to the Species of the Southeastern United States. Journal of The New York Entomological Society. Vol. XXVI. Read on archive.org.
Full Binomial Names: ITIS.gov
Common names: BugGuide.net; The Songs of Insects by Lang Elliott and Wil Herschberger; personal memory.
Locations: Biogeography of the Cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) of North America, North of Mexico by Allen F. Sanborn and Polly K. Phillips.
Descriptions, Colors: personal observations from specimens or photos from many sources. Descriptions are not perfect, but may be helpful.
Notes:
Some descriptions are based on aged specimens which have lost some or a lot of their color.
Description: The Dark Lyric Cicadas have the darkest coloration of all the Lyric cicadas. Their mesonotum is almost entirely dark brown/black. They have a “soda-pop pull-tab” or keyhole shape on their pronotum.
Wm T Davis’ 1910 description of Neotibicen lyricen engelhardti1
Cicada engelhardti n. sp.
Length: [male] 32 mm., to tip of wings, 50 mm.; [female] 30 mm., to tip of wings 50 mm.
Head black, sometimes with narrow, tawny stripe on front. Pro-thorax black, with small, greenish fulvous central arrow-shaped spot, broadest behind. In lyricen this spot is broadest in front. Posterior and lateral borders of the pronotum black. Mesothorax nearly all black, with two faint parenthesis-like lines of fulvous partly enclos- ing the central portion. Sometimes these lines are heavier and there is a shade of fulvous on the posterior portion of the mesothorax. The inner surface of the front marginal vein is usually back and darker than the same parts in lyricen. Abdomen black above, with two nar- row pruinose lines or spots at base. Beneath, with broad central black stripe and at each side is a broad lateral pruinose border.
This insect is blacker than Cicada lyricen, lacking the considerable amount of fulvous markings of that species, particularly on the pro- thorax.
Identification Key by Wm. T. Davis from 19182
A. Large, heavy bodied species ; head broad, uncus simple, and first cross vein in the fore wings starting from radius 3 far back, or about one third distant from base of first marginal cell.
B. Uncus longer than broad. Black species with green or greenish markings and black area on the central part of the abdomen beneath, except in sayi [Neotibicen tibicen tibicen], and new variety of davisi [Neotibicen davisi].
CC. Hind margin of pronotum or collar black or nearly so (except in sayi var. australis [Neotibicen tibicen australis]).
D. Central area of the abdomen beneath black.
Blacker than typical lyricen, lacking the considerable amount of fulvous markings on the pronotum and mesonotum. A fulvous somewhat anchor-shaped mark centrally on the pronotum.
Davis, W.T. 1910. Observations on Cicada pruinosa and a description of a new species. Entomological News Philadelphia. Vol 21. Pages 457-458. Read on archive.org.
Davis, W.T. 1918. Mississippi Cicadas, with a Key to the Species of the Southeastern United States. Journal of The New York Entomological Society. Vol. XXVI. Read on archive.org.
Full Binomial Names: ITIS.gov
Common names: BugGuide.net; The Songs of Insects by Lang Elliott and Wil Herschberger; personal memory.
Locations: Biogeography of the Cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) of North America, North of Mexico by Allen F. Sanborn and Polly K. Phillips.
Descriptions, Colors: personal observations from specimens or photos from many sources. Descriptions are not perfect, but may be helpful.
Notes:
Some descriptions are based on aged specimens which have lost some or a lot of their color.
Description: If the cicada has a white X on its back, it is a latifasciatus. Repetitive, rhythmic, call like someone repeatedly running a scissor over a grinding wheel.
Neotibicen latifasciatus was described in 1915 by Davis in the article Notes on Some Cicadas from the Eastern and Central United States with a Description of a New Variety of Cicada Pruinosa in the Journal of The New York Entomological Society. 1
Smith and Grossbeck say of the specimens they had from the coast of New Jersey and which we now know to be a variety: “Abdomen above black, base of first segment with a white, heavily pruinose lateral dash, which encroaches to some extent upon the second segment; a similar but longer and broader lateral dash extends along the base of the third segment and a spot of the same color is on each side of the eighth segment. In the female the dash of the second segment differs from that of the male in not becoming attenuated dorsally, but in being squarely truncated.”
For the variety thus described with the broad white lateral dashes on segment three, we propose the name of latifasciafa. We then have Cicada pruninosa [now Neotibicen pruinosus] as described by Say, with the tergum entirely black or nearly so, with the attenuated white stripe at the lateral base of the third abdominal segment, being the form common from Indiana, Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, etc., of which we figure a male from Chetopa, Kansas ; Cicada pruinosa var. latifasciata so far known only from the coastal region of the eastern and southern United States, with the broad stripe on segment three and abdomen beneath more shining black, of which we figure a male from Cape May Co., New Jersey, and Cicada pruninosa var. winnemanna [now Neotibicen winnemanna] with the hind margins of the abdominal segments more or less fulvous, the second segment having the band broader than the others and a white streak generally hardly discernible each side at the base of the third segment, of which we figure a male from Plummer’s Island, Maryland. The females of these cicadas have the charactertistic markings far less distinct than in the males and occasionally some are entirely absent.
Identification key by Wm T Davis2
A. Large, heavy bodied species ; head broad, uncus simple, and first cross vein in the fore wings starting from radius 3 far back, or about one third distant from base of first marginal cell.
B. Uncus longer than broad. Black species with green or greenish markings and black area on the central part of the abdomen beneath, except in sayi, and new variety of davisi.
C. Hind margin of pronotum or collar, green or greenish.
Dorsum of abdomen shining black with a broad pruinose mark each side on segment three ; blackened area on under side of abdomen more in the nature of an even stripe.
pruinosa var. latifasciata (Davis.)
(1) Davis, W.T. 1915. Notes on Some Cicadas from the Eastern and Central United States with a Description of a New Variety of Cicada Pruinosa. Journal of The New York Entomological Society. Vol 23, Pages 1-10. Read on archive.org.
(2) Davis, W.T. 1918. Mississippi Cicadas, with a Key to the Species of the Southeastern United States. Journal of The New York Entomological Society. Vol. XXVI. Read on archive.org.
Full Binomial Names: ITIS.gov
Common names: BugGuide.net; The Songs of Insects by Lang Elliott and Wil Herschberger; personal memory.
Locations: Biogeography of the Cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) of North America, North of Mexico by Allen F. Sanborn and Polly K. Phillips.
Descriptions, Colors: personal observations from specimens or photos from many sources. Descriptions are not perfect, but may be helpful.
Notes:
Some descriptions are based on aged specimens which have lost some or a lot of their color.
Photo by Dan Mozgai. New Jersey.
