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April 17, 2016

Common cicadas of Montana

Filed under: United States — Tags: — Dan @ 7:29 pm

Common cicadas of Montana (MT):

Megatibicen dealbatus (Davis, 1915) aka Plains Cicada

Plains Cicada

Megatibicen dorsatus (Say, 1825) aka Bush Cicada or Grand Western or Giant Grassland Cicada

Bush Cicada or Grand Western or Giant Grassland Cicada

Okanagana bella Davis, 1919 aka Mountain Cicada

Mountain Cicada

Okanagana canadensis (Provancher, 1889) aka Canadian Cicada

Canadian Cicada

Okanagana fratercula Davis, 1915

Okanagana gibbera Davis, 1927

Okanagana hesperia (Uhler, 1872)

Okanagana luteobasalis Davis, 1935

Okanagana occidentalis (Walker in Lord, 1866)

Okanagana oregona Davis, 1916

Okanagana rimosa rimosa (Say, 1830) aka Say’s Cicada

Say's Cicada

Okanagana striatipes (Haldeman, 1852)

Okanagana synodica synodica (Say, 1825) aka Walking Cicada

Okanagana utahensis Davis, 1919

Platypedia areolata (Uhler, 1861)

Platypedia putnami lutea Davis, 1920 aka Putnam’s Cicada

Platypedia putnami putnami (Uhler, 1877) aka Putnam’s Cicada


Name and Location References:

  1. Full Binomial Names: ITIS.gov
  2. Common names & locations: BugGuide.net; iNaturalist.com; The Songs of Insects by Lang Elliott and Wil Herschberger; my personal memory.
  3. Locations: Biogeography of the Cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) of North America, North of Mexico by Allen F. Sanborn and Polly K. Phillips.
  4. List of species with MAPs: Biogeography of the Cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) of North America, North of Mexico [PDF] by Allen F. Sanborn and Polly K. Phillips. Download it once; treasure it forever.

5 Comments »

  1. Alex says:

    We found a Acadia here in Kalispell, Mt. Never seen them before, had to look it up to identify it.

  2. Carole myers says:

    We live in columbus montana and found cicadas on our trees never saw them before how often do they come around lived here my whole life

    1. Dan says:

      Thanks for sharing your experience!

    2. Phil Karper says:

      Earlier this summer (2022) here near Helena, Montana there was a very massive emergence of a species of cicada that I think occurs only once every 5 to 13 years, I cannot recall the year that such an emergence occurred last time, but I’ve lived here 28 years and only noticed them once or twice before. I can still see many nymphal exuviae mostly around sage brush but I saw less than 10 adults back in July and I cannot find the corpse of an adult at all so that I can identify the species. The literature says that there are no periodic cicadas this far west!?

      1. Dan says:

        There are no periodical cicadas in Montana, but there are cicadas like Platypedia putnami keddiensis Davis, 1920 that have bumper crop years and years with very few cicadas. This can be based on weather fluctuations or density and competition underground

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