August 3, 2015

Tibicen bermudiana, an extinct cicada

The Tibicen bermudiana Verrill (T. bermudianus) if you want the genus and species names to agree, and maybe now Neotibicen bermudianus) is a cicada that was endemic to Bermuda and is now extinct. Its closest relative is the Tibicen lyricen, which is found in the United States (and not extinct).

Here is a photo of a T. bermudiana from the collection found at the Staten Island Museum:

Tibicen bermudiana at the SI Museum by Roy Troutman

More photos by Roy Troutman, click for larger versions:

Tibicen bermudiana abdomen:

Tibicen bermudiana specimens:

A single specimen:

From the Bermuda’s Fauna website:

Sadly, when most of the Bermuda cedar trees were killed of by a blight in the 1950s, the cicadas that made the nights so uniquely magical and romantic in sound also largely disappeared.

Updated with a photo of the coin commemorating this cicada:

Bermuda cicada coin

Comments (4)

July 10, 2015

Major Changes to the Tibicen genera

Sometimes you wake up and the whole world is different. See this cicada:

Teneral Neotibicen tibicen
photo by me.

… when I went to sleep she was a Tibicen tibicen tibicen, but now I know she is a Neotibicen tibicen tibicen. 10 years ago, she was a Tibicen chloromera. 130 years ago, she was Cicada tibicen. Cicada names change as researchers discover their differences.

Two new papers have split the Tibicen (or Lyristes) genera into many genera: Tibicen (European Tibicen), Auritibicen (Tibicen of Asia/Japan), Neotibicen (mostly eastern North American Tibicen), and Hadoa (Tibicen of the western United States).

The first paper is Description of a new genus, Auritibicen gen. nov., of Cryptotympanini (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) with redescriptions of Auritibicen pekinensis (Haupt, 1924) comb. nov. and Auritibicen slocumi (Chen, 1943) comb. nov. from China and a key to the species of Auritibicen by Young June Lee, 2015, Zootaxa 3980 (2): 241—254. This paper establishes the new genera Auritibicen, and the members of the Tibicen/Lyristes genera fall into that genera. Here is a link. So, Tibicen flammatus aka Lyristes flammatus of Japan, for example, becomes Auritibicen flammatus.

A. flammatus
Auritibicen flammatus photo by Osamu Hikino.

The second paper is Molecular phylogenetics, diversification, and systematics of Tibicen Latreille 1825 and allied cicadas of the tribe Cryptotympanini, with three new genera and emphasis on species from the USA and Canada (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha: Cicadidae) by Kathy B. R. Hill, David C. Marshall, Maxwell S. Moulds & Chris Simon. 2015, Zootaxa 3985 (2): 219—251. This paper establishes the Neotibicen (Hill and Moulds), and Hadoa (Moulds) genera. This paper also sought to establish the Subsolanus genera for the Asian Tibicen/Lyristes species but the previously mentioned paper by Young June Lee has precedence because it was published first. Link to paper.

To recap, European Tibicen/Lyristes are Tibicen…

Lyristes plebejus photo by Iván Jesús Torresano García
Tibicen plebejus photo by Iván Jesus Torresano García.

… Asian Tibicen/Lyristes are now Auritibicen. Mostly-eastern North American Tibicen are now Neotibicen, and Western North American Tibicen are now Hadoa. Note that, the catagorization is not due to location, but to genetic and physiological evaluation (read the papers).

Needless to say this website and others have a lot of name changing to do, but in the mean time, here’s where the North American species fall out:

Neotibicen
Tibicen auletes	Neotibicen auletes
Tibicen auriferus	Neotibicen auriferus
Tibicen canicularis	Neotibicen canicularis
Tibicen cultriformis	Neotibicen cultriformis
Tibicen davisi davisi	Neotibicen davisi davisi
Tibicen davisi harnedi	Neotibicen davisi harnedi
Tibicen dealbatus	Neotibicen dealbatus
Tibicen dorsatus	Neotibicen dorsatus
Tibicen figuratus	Neotibicen figuratus
Tibicen latifasciatus	Neotibicen latifasciatus
Tibicen linnei	Neotibicen linnei
Tibicen lyricen engelhardti	Neotibicen lyricen engelhardti
Tibicen lyricen lyricen	Neotibicen lyricen lyricen
Tibicen lyricen virescens	Neotibicen lyricen virescens
Tibicen pronotalis pronotalis	Neotibicen pronotalis pronotalis
Tibicen pronotalis walkeri	Neotibicen pronotalis walkeri
Tibicen pruinosus fulvus	Neotibicen pruinosus fulvus
Tibicen pruinosus pruinosus	Neotibicen pruinosus pruinosus
Tibicen resh	Neotibicen resh
Tibicen resonans	Neotibicen resonans
Tibicen robinsonianus	Neotibicen robinsonianus
Tibicen similaris	Neotibicen similaris
Tibicen superbus	Neotibicen superbus
Tibicen tibicen australis	Neotibicen tibicen australis
Tibicen tibicen tibicen	Neotibicen tibicen tibicen
Tibicen tremulus	Neotibicen tremulus
Tibicen winnemanna	Neotibicen winnemanna
Hadoa
Tibicen bifidus	Hadoa bifida
Tibicen chiricahua	Hadoa chiricahua
Tibicen duryi	Hadoa duryi
Tibicen inauditus	Hadoa inaudita
Tibicen longioperculus	Hadoa longiopercula
Tibicen neomexicensis	Hadoa neomexicensis
Tibicen parallelus	Hadoa parallela
Tibicen simplex	Hadoa simplex
Tibicen texanus	Hadoa texana
Tibicen townsendii	Hadoa townsendii

Comments (6)

December 17, 2014

Behold a molting Neotibicen

Filed under: Neotibicen | Tacuini (Cryptotympanini) | Tibicen — Tags: N. pruinosus — Dan @ 5:48 am

Walter Abington sent us this series of photographs of a molting Neotibicen cicada. I believe the cicada is a Tibicen pruinosus based on this guide to identifying teneral Neotibicen.

Comments Off

November 20, 2014

Watch a Tibicen nymph emerge from the ground

Filed under: Nymphs | Roy Troutman | Tibicen | Video — Dan @ 5:38 am

This video by Roy Troutman shows a Tibicen cicada nymph emerge from the ground.

Annual cicada nymph emerging from burrow. from Roy Troutman.

Comments Off

A Tibicen cicada breathing

Filed under: Anatomy | Roy Troutman | Tibicen | Video — Dan @ 5:31 am

Cicadas breathe through apertures along the side of their body called spiracles. This video of a Tibicen by Roy Troutman shows the opening and closing of a spiracle.

Adult Cicada breathing from Roy Troutman on Vimeo.

Comments Off

November 7, 2013

New Species of Tibicen: Tibicen neomexicensis

Filed under: Tibicen — Dan @ 6:19 am

A new species of Tibicen cicada, Tibicen neomexicensis, has been described by Brian J. Stucky.

Thanks to David Marshall for the tip.

Comments (1)

August 9, 2013

August is a great time to look for Tibicen cicadas in North America

Filed under: Canada | Tibicen | U.S.A. | Video — Tags: N. tibicen tibicen — Dan @ 9:33 am

Now is a great time to look and listen for Tibicen cicadas in North America. Tibicen are the medium to large sized annual cicadas. Typically they are well camouflaged – with colors like black, white, green & brown.

During the day you can listen for them, of course, and spot them that way. Try Insect Singers for cicada songs. You can also look for their exuvia (skins), and if you’re lucky you can catch on on a low branch.

Last night I started looking around 10pm and found three Swamp Cicadas (T. tibicen tibicen) shedding their skins on trees around the yard. I also collected about 30 exuvia (skins). All in a quarter acre yard. Take a look at this video:

Swamp Cicada shedding its nymphal skin from Cicada Mania on Vimeo.

Swamp Cicada

Teneral Swamp Cicada

Comments (1)

July 30, 2013

Megatibicen auletes in Manchester, NJ

Filed under: Annette DeGiovine | Elias Bonaros | Megatibicen | Tibicen | Video — Tags: M. auletes, M. grossus, Manchester NJ — Dan @ 8:44 pm

Last night I went on an exploration of Manchester, NJ looking for Megatibicen auletes (Germar, 1834) with Elias Bonaros and his friend Annette.

M. auletes, are known as the Northern Dusk Singing Cicada. As their name suggests, M. auletes calls at dusk, around sunset. Their call is amazing – visit Insect Singers to hear their call.

Luckily I found a (deceased) female and an exuvia (nymph skin). Elias and Annette found many exuvia and a live nymph. We were able to watch the nymph undergo ecdysis (leave its exuvia, and expand its adult body).

Here are some images of the cicadas we found last night (click the first two images to get to larger versions):

Neotibicen auletes nymph

Ventral view. Neotibicen auletes female Manchester NJ

Dorsal view. Neotibicen auletes female Manchester NJ

Neotibicen auletes female Manchester NJ

Some (blurry) video:

Dan and Elias netting a M. auletes exuvia. Photo by Annette DeGiovine-Oliveira:

Dan and Elias netting a T. auletes exuvia. Photo by Annette DeGiovine-Oliveira:

* Note as of 2023 the name of this cicada has changed to Megatibicen grossus. You can also call it a Northern Dusk-Signing Cicada.

Comments (2)

April 9, 2013

Biogeography of the Cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) of North America, North of Mexico

Download the PDF here: www.cicadamania.com/downloads/diversity-05-00166.pdf.

We are excited to announce the availability of a document by Allen F. Sanborn and Polly K. Phillips titled Biogeography of the Cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) of North America, North of Mexico. This document features distribution maps for North American cicada species! This document is an excellent companion to The Cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadoidea: Cicadidae) of North America North of Mexico by Allen F. Sanborn and Maxine S. Heath (link to that book).

Abstract: We describe and illustrate the biogeography of the cicadas inhabiting continental North America, north of Mexico. Species distributions were determined through our collecting efforts as well as label data from more than 110 institutional collections. The status of subspecies is discussed with respect to their distributions. As we have shown over limited geographic areas, the distribution of individual species is related to the habitat in which they are found. We discuss the biogeography of the genera with respect to their phylogenetic relationships. California is the state with the greatest alpha diversity (89 species, 46.6% of taxa) and unique species (35 species, 18.3% of taxa). Texas, Arizona, Colorado and Utah are the states with the next greatest alpha diversity with Texas, Arizona and Utah being next for unique species diversity. Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode Island are the states with the least amount of cicada diversity. Diversity is greatest in states and areas where there is a diversity of plant communities and habitats within these communities. Mountainous terrain also coincides with increases in diversity. Several regions of the focus area require additional collection efforts to fill in the distributions of several species.
Keywords: cicada; distribution; Diceroprocta; Tibicen; Okanagana; Okanagodes; Cacama; Magicicada; Platypedia; Cicadetta

An example of a map from the document:

Example Map

Comments (2)

January 15, 2013

Tibicen or Lyristes

Filed under: Lyristes | Tibicen — Tags: L. plebejus — Dan @ 8:50 pm

A Tibicen by any other name would still sound as sweet…

I always wondered why Lyristes plebejus is also called Tibicen plebejus.

It seems that there is a dispute as to whether the genus Tibicen should actually be called Lyristes. A petition was made (back in the 1980s) to the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, to change Tibicen to Lyristes. I learned this from the wonderful new book, The Cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadoidea: Cicadidae) of North America North of Mexico by Allen F. Sanborn and Maxine S. Heath (order it). I checked the ICZN website, and the petition appears to fallen off their docket of open cases. I also noticed that on European and Japanese websites, they use Lyristes.

I personally hope the genus name doesn’t change for North American species — I would have to make a lot of changes on this website. Going through the name change from Tibicen chloromera to Tibicen chloromerus to Tibicen tibcen, was bad enough.

The root of the word Tibicen is flute player, and the root of the word Lyristes is lyre — both referring to musical instruments. (Frankly I think most Tibicen sound like power tools — I don’t know Latin for Black & Decker).

BTW, this is a Lyristes plebejus (from Spain):
Lyristes plebejus photo by Iván Jesús Torresano García
Photo by Iván Jesús Torresano García.

And this is a Lyristes flammatus (from Japan):
A. flammatus
Photo by Osamu Hikino

And some day, this might be a Lyristes auletes (from North Carolina):
Neotibicen auletes found in Winston-Salem, NC by Erin Dickinson. 2011.
Photo by Erin.

Comments Off

« Newer Posts — More »