Abstract
Tibicen neomexicensis sp. n., a new species of cicada found in the Sacramento Mountains of southcentral New Mexico, is described. T. neomexicensis closely resembles T. chiricahua Davis morphologically, but males of the two species have highly distinct calling songs that differ in phrasal structure, amplitude burst rates, and pulse structure. Unlike T. chiricahua, male T. neomexicensis use conspicuous dorso-ventral abdominal movements to modulate the amplitude and frequency of their calls. T. neomexicensis is also smaller on average than T. chiricahua, and differences in the color patterns of the wing venation identify these two species morphologically. Both species are dependent on pinyon-juniper woodlands and have similar emergence phenologies. These species appear to be allopatric, with T. chiricahua found west of the Rio Grande in New Mexico, Arizona, and Mexico, and T. neomexicensis so far known only from New Mexico, east of the Rio Grande. T. chiricahua and T. neomexicensis males share a common genitalic structure that separates them from all other species of Tibicen, and the possible evolutionary and biogeographic history of these likely sister species is also discussed.
Highlights
Cicadas, crickets, katydids, and many other insects produce airborne acoustic signals that play an essential role in reproduction (Alexander 1960, 1967, Capinera et al 2004)
The calling songs recorded in the Chiricahua Mountains were the same as those recorded in the Magdalena Mountains in New Mexico, revealing that the cicadas in the Sacramento Mountains were a previously unrecognized species, described here as Tibicen neomexicensis
Analysis of audio recordings confirms that the calls of these two species have significant, consistent structural and temporal differences, which provide the simplest means for identifying these cicadas in the field
Summary
Crickets, katydids, and many other insects produce airborne acoustic signals that play an essential role in reproduction (Alexander 1960, 1967, Capinera et al 2004). Acoustic studies have led to the discovery of numerous “cryptic” cicada species that are morphologically nearly identical to other species but can be readily identified by their unique mating calls (e.g., Davis 1922, Alexander and Moore 1962, Popov 1989, Marshall and Cooley 2000, Quartau and Simoes 2005, Sueur and Puissant 2007, Cole 2008, Gogala et al 2008). The populations from these two mountain ranges had completely different calling songs, suggesting the presence of two species and rendering the taxonomic identities of both populations uncertain. To help resolve this problem, I traveled to the type locality of T. chiricahua, Pinery Canyon in the Chiricahua Mountains of southeastern Arizona (Davis 1923), to record the calls of true T. chiricahua. It became clear that these two species exhibited subtle morphological differences, as well
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