Category: Neotibicen

Mystery Cicada 2 is a Neotibicen dorsatus

Post author By Dan
Post date September 5, 2005
6 Comments on Mystery Cicada 2 is a Neotibicen dorsatus

Mystery 2 Bill from Lincoln, Nebraska sent us this awesome photo of a cicada. I’ve never seen a cicada quite like this one. It’s as pretty as a butterfly. My guess is it belongs to the genus Diceroprocta, but I don’t know what species it is. Anyone know? If so, leave your guess in the comments section below.

Tim McNary wrote:

The cicada you pictured is either Tibicen dealbatus or Tibicen dorsatus. It’s kind of hard to tell from a picture. If you found it in trees in town, it is probably T. dealbatus. If you found in grassy sandhills and the pronotum in swollen in profile it is probably T. dorsatus. The characture that Davis uses, the shape of the uncus, is actually unreliable.

David and Gerry said it was a Tibicen dorsatus (formerly T. dorsata).

Tags M. dorsatus

Louder than a lawnmower

Someone asked how loud Neotibicens were in terms of decibels. According to the University of Florida Book of Insect Records the Tibicen resh has a maximum sound pressure level of 107.2db, and the Tibicen pronotalis has a max SPL of 108.9db. Other species of Tibicen seem to max out around 80-100db.

Bonus unrelated link:

A French Canadian Tibicen page (thanks Roy).

Neotibicen Tibicen

A cicada and an leafhopper

Post author By Dan
Post date August 14, 2005
6 Comments on A cicada and an leafhopper

Cicada and a leaf hopper

Here’s a cute image for you: a cicada and its cousin, the leafhopper, in the same picture. If you look closely, you’ll see they look alike. Cicadas and leafhoppers belong to the same superfamily called Cicadoidea. Cicadas belong to the family Cicadidae, and leafhoppers belong to the family Cicadellidae.

Neotibicen Tibicen

Identify the cicada!

Update: Gerry Bunker nailed it: it’s a Neotibicen superbus. Notice that the “McDonald’s Arch” is separated.

Here’s a challenge for all you cicada maniacs: identify this cicada! Even I don’t know what it is. Place your guesses in the Comments (see link below).

The photo was taken by Elise Solloway in Oklahoma in August of this year.

Tags N. superbus

Neotibicen Photos & Illustrations Tacuini (Cryptotympanini) Tibicen U.S.A.

Nine new Neotibicen tibicen photos

Post author By Dan
Post date August 11, 2005
1 Comment on Nine new Neotibicen tibicen photos

These are photos from 2005. Neotibicen tibicen tibicen aka Swamp or Morning Cicada. Back in 2005 we called them Tibicen chloromera.

Neotibicen tibicen tibicen that failed to successfully molt:

Neotibicen tibicen tibicen spreading its wings (click for larger image):

A series of photos of a Neotibicen tibicen tibicen molting:
Molting Neotibicen tibicen tibicen

Molting Neotibicen tibicen tibicen

Tags N. tibicen tibicen

Neotibicen Tibicen

Tibicen picture of the week

Post author By Dan
Post date August 9, 2005

Here’s a fresh picture of a Neotibicen from my backyard:

Tibicen, August 8 2005.

Tags N. tibicen tibicen

Neotibicen Okanagana

22 New Tibicen and Okanagana photos!

Post author By Dan
Post date August 7, 2005
1 Comment on 22 New Tibicen and Okanagana photos!

NEW! Gerry Bunker’s Tibicen Gallery: Photos from Gerry who runs the Massachusetts Cicadas web site.

NEW! Elise Solloway’s Tibicen Gallery: Photos taken southwest of Woodward, Oklahoma, the first week in July 2005

Photo by Elise:
Tibicen from Elise

NEW! Sloan Childers’s Tibicen Gallery: Photo taken in Round Rock Texas.

NEW! Natasha’s Okanagana rimosa Gallery: Okanagana rimosa, taken in Edmonton, Alberta.

Folklore Neotibicen Pop Culture Tibicen

Jar Fly, Harvest Fly, Locust, Dog Day cicada

Post author By Dan
Post date August 4, 2005
12 Comments on Jar Fly, Harvest Fly, Locust, Dog Day cicada

There are many nicknames for cicadas. Periodic cicadas (17-year/13-year Magicicadas) are often called Locusts. Annual, summertime cicadas (primarily Tibicens) are called Jar Fly or Jarfly, Harvest Fly or “Dog Day” cicada depending on what part of the USA you’re from.

I found this site which provides guesses at the entomology of Jar Fly:

One is that when you catch one and hold it in your hand it “jars” or vibrates. The other thought is that the nickname came from the constant singing that might “jar” or unsettle some people’s nerves who are not accustomed to hearing it for hours on end.

My uneducated guess would be that kids catch them and put them in jars, hence “jar fly”.

Thanks to Becky for asking about Jarflies.