A Multi-year Adult Emergence Study of the Cicada Neotibicen canicularis (Harris) (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) in Wisconsin

Abstract

Based on daily collections of final instar exuviae, the widespread annual cicada adult emergence of Neotibicen canicularis (Harris) (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) was studied in southeastern Wisconsin in a combined plot containing 15 mature trees and suburban lawns for seven successive years and in a separate plot of two trees for four years. The daily numbers of males and females were recorded. Over the entire seven years of the 15-tree plot, total female and male exuviae were equal, a summative 50:50 ratio. However, there was considerable deviation from this ratio three of the seven years. More females than males eclosed in the first two years and more males eclosed in the final year, yet the overall trend was for females to eclose later than males for the entire seven-year study of the 15-tree plot, with many more females emerging in the last twenty plus days. Although ambient temperatures varied over the study (cooler in the first two years and warmer later), they did not have any discernible effect on the timing of female and male eclosions. The overall annual emergence period was 56.7 (se 4.48) d for a seven-year total of 2967 exuviae, with the annual average emergence being 437.6 (se 34.6) per year. The average density of exuviae, an estimate of the emerging adult population, was 1.3 ± 0.09 (se) per m2. In the separate two-tree plot, a greater number of males emerged than females for all four years. ARISTOTLE ADVISES: “Male cicadas are tastier when young, but the females are preferable later when they are full of eggs.”