Lately we’ve received quite a few emails asking for audio samples of cicadas and katydids so folks can A) tell them apart, and B) tell what species they are. There’s plenty of sites on the web that feature cicada sounds; look for links tagged AUDIO on my cicada links page. Two particularly good sites for sound files Massachusetts Cicadas and Cicada Central.
In my search for good cicada and katydid sounds, many people recommended the book The Songs of Insects
by Lang Elliott and Wil Hershberger. I ordered it immediately, and it arrived today. I am truly amazed by this book (and audio CD). The book profiles 75 North American singing insects including cicadas, katydids, crickets, and grasshoppers. Each profile features two excellent color photos of each insect, a map of where you can find them, a description, and the audio CD includes the insects song. The book is over 225 pages long, and a high quality paperback. If you or your kids are interested in signing insects, there’s no better book to buy. All my nieces and nephews are getting this book for Christmas.
The authors of the book have a webpage featuring the songs of the insects featured in the book. Note that the book is lacking in species found in the western U.S. — if you live east of the Rockies this book is awesome.
Listing for bugs is a fun thing to due in these hot summer months — buy this book before the summer ends.
5 out of 5 Marvins.
Another cool photo from Flickr. There’s more pictures and information about this species on The Bug Guide.
Suberb Tibicen superba photos.
Check out these 17 year cicada photos from Frank Merenda of Asheville NC.
2008 was a busy year for 17 year cicadas across the USA. 17 year Magicicadas aren’t the only cicadas emerging in North America this year, in fact, there are many types of cicadas that emerge in North America every year all over North America.
The Tibicen is the genus of annual cicada most people are familiar with.
Here are some general details about Tibicen:
- They emerge every summer. They do not emerge in broods.
- They emerge in small numbers (small relative to periodical cicadas).
- They are timid and elusive compared to periodical cicadas.
- Most are physically larger than periodical cicadas.
- They are well camouflaged: their colors and patterns of colors help to hide them in their surroundings. They look like little military vehicles, IMHO.
- Colloquial names for Tibicens: August Dry Birds, Dog Day cicadas, Harvest Flies, Jar Flies, Bush Cicada (Tibicen dorsata)
Some cool Tibicen posts and pages you should check out:
An image from Roy Troutman:
My Tibicen video from 1996
I recently found a book called A monograph of oriental cicadidae in the Internet Archive. The A monograph of oriental cicadidae was authored by William Lucas Distant, and published in 1892 — that’s 116 years ago! The book contains plenty of text and illustrations, some of which I’ll include below:
Angamiana etherea
Cicada taglica
Cosmopsaltria tripurasura
Peciliopsaltria hampsoni
Terpnosia stipata
Tosena depicta
Tosena sibylla
Tosena splendida
As promised, the Magicicada adults are all but gone in most areas. I assume that most that are left are in Long Island or Cape Code.
Compared to last year (Brood XIII), Cicada Mania had 57% fewer unique visitors, which was expected. That said, I had 57% more fun this year, which makes up the difference.
The Fourth of July should be fun this year at Roy Troutman’s place. Check out the Clustering Cicada fireworks he found.
