Latest Cicada News
Cicada Killers Invade Swansea, Ma.
There is an area of Massachusetts that is south of me and about a two hour drive called Swansea, MA. I have had my eye on this area of Massachusetts because it is so close to Rhode Island and there are a lot of ocean inlets and rivers around the town that drain into the ocean. This area seemed ideal for two species of cicadas that are found in other areas of New England, that love areas of water and sandy soil and may just be in this area. Those two species are Tibicen chloromera and T. auletes
Date Posted: 2007-07-29 Comments: (3) Category: Cicada General Info
Back Yard Cicadas Found!
I can't believe my luck. Usually I have to travel to other places in order to find molting cicadas This night was different however. I decided that I would set up some light traps in my yard just to see what kind of insects I could attract. I have three light traps that use three different light sources, UV Black Light, Halogen and Mercury Vapor.
I set my traps up and just decided to wait outside for a bit. I decided that since I found exuvia last year on a pine tree in my yard, I decided t
Date Posted: 2007-07-27 Comments: (2) Category: Cicada General Info
T. canicularis and T. lyricen Adult Forms
I thought that I would post some additional photos from the two nymphs that I took a series of photos for you back on July 20, 2007. These are several days from teneral.As you can see by the below photos there are definite differences between species.
Tibicen canicularis Adult Cicada - Female
Tibicen lyricen Adult Cicada - Female
Date Posted: 2007-07-26 Comments: (0) Category: Cicada General Info
Cicadas NOT from New England
As previously posted in an earlier update, I promised to post some close up photos of some cicadas that my friend and colleague Tim McNary sent from out west. Pretty much all of these can be found in the western part of the US so I thought it would be cool for others in the east to see what other genera of cicadas look like since we mostly have Tibicens here. Just click the thumbnails for an enlarged view.
Okanagana synodica
Species Details:
Sex: Male
Da
Date Posted: 2007-07-22 Comments: (0) Category: Cicadas 101
Tibicen chloromera in Connecticut
As I do every year, today, I went to Connecticut to check out areas where last year and the year before, I have heard T. chloromera in areas of Connecticut where they just shouldn't be. I must've gone too early because while I heard some in the areas that I frequent, I just wasn't hearing the numbers like last year. I will definitely have to go back a few more times before I give my final report for this year.
T. canicularis Female Found While Eclosing - Suffield CT
One of the places
Date Posted: 2007-07-21 Comments: (0) Category: Cicada Missions
A Comparison of O. rimosa to O. bella
Well, folks. Sorry for the delay in updates. Work has been keeping me pretty busy leaving little time for updates. If I had a choice of using my weekends to do website updates or go out in the field, guess which one wins out every time? Yep, you guessed it, going out in the field.
Back on July 14th, I went back to the Montague Plains Wildlife Management Area to see if I could snag more O. rimosa specimens but it seemed that there was little calling and what was there seemed to be greatly di
Date Posted: 2007-07-20 Comments: (0) Category: Cicadas 101
Two Cicada Nymphs from Fairview Cemetery
I decided to go back again to Fairview Cemetery where the week before I got a total of 10 cicadas. Sure enough, I found two nymphs right away. One on an old maple tree and the other on another younger maple tree. I didn't want a repeat of what happened last weekend so I didn't stay until 3:00am but came home at a decent hour. I decided I wanted to get a nice series of shots of these two nymphs molting. The first set is of a Tibicen canicularis. Click the thumbnails below for larger pictures:
Date Posted: 2007-07-20 Comments: (1) Category: Cicada General Info
Okanagana rimosa Habitat
Below are some photos of the habitat where I obtained the O. rimosa at the Montague Plains Wildlife Management area. Not only is this a great place for insects like Cicadas and Cicada Killers but there are wild blueberries growing everywhere for the picking.
Unfortunately, though it seems that O. rimosa is completely done from this area for this year. However, there are Cicada Killers here! Maybe this will be a good spot for other cicadas. I will have to come back here later in the summer
Date Posted: 2007-07-14 Comments: (0) Category: Cicada General Info
Major Cicada Score at Fairview - Westford, Ma
Well folks, this is my first major score of the season. The evening didn't start out like I wanted. I started out at St. Patrick Cemetery in Lowell Ma. This is the place where I found my very first Cicada tenerals back in 2004 when I first got interested in cicadas. There was nary a cicada nymph or teneral to be found.
At around 10:30pm I decided to go to another cemetery which I started to frequent back in 2005 called Fairview Cemetery in Westford, MA. Here is where I hit the jackpot!! I
Date Posted: 2007-07-13 Comments: (0) Category: Cicada General Info