Massachusetts Cicadas General News
About Cicada General Info News Category
This sections contains general news articles that don't quite fit into the other news categories. Cicadas General Info contain articles such as reports from contributors, information on first emergences during a cicada season as well as information on areas where the author has revisited. There are lots of images and videos contained within these articles. Feel free to ask questions and post comments in the comments section at the end of each article.
T. tibicen calling in Massachusetts!
Update 3/15/11: After the writing of this article the species formerly known as Tibicen chloromera has been changed to Tibicen tibicen. This article has been edited to reflect this change.
Hey all, at first I thought that maybe I was crazy, just hearing things. This site is only supposed to be about the two species of Tibicen cicadas known to be in Massachusetts Tibicen lyricen and Tibicen canicularis. Now though, there may be a third!
Yesterday I was outside with my fiance and both of us
Date Posted: 2005-08-11 Comments: (0)
Giant Cicada Killer Wasps in Westford
5:00 pm - Pine Grove Cemetery, Westford - Man there are tons of Cicada Killer wasps here. It seems like every time I come back, there are more. I'm sitting right in the thick of them and again, they don't seem to be bothering me at all.
I have noticed many burrows (around 8) under bushes which are in the same proximity. The mounds that the female Cicada Killer creates are almost touching. I've also observed females entering and leaving. Is this normal for so many females to be so close to each
Date Posted: 2005-07-25 Comments: (0)
More Cicada Morphologies Noted
Below are a set of thumbnails to bigger images of the the cicadas that I collected on the 21st during the night visit to Fairview Cemetery. These photos were taken two days after their teneral stage to ensure they are the true colors.
The Tibicen lyricen specimens have also been added to the Morphologies in Tibicen Cicadas page. You can compare these two new specimens to the previous specimens collected. I am currently working on a morphologies page for Tibicen canicularis a
Date Posted: 2005-07-23 Comments: (0)
Heavy Traffic at Fairview Cemetery
9:00 PM - Fairview Cemetery - Westford Ma. It's been dead here (pun intended) all day. I mean no one visited the cemetery during the day because it was just way too hot. But it is now after dark and the place is being visited by high school aged teenagers probably looking to party quietly or just to neck.
Even the police have been in here patrolling. I'm surprised the police didn't say anything to me though. After all, I'm walking around in a dark cemetery shining my flashlight up into the tree
Date Posted: 2005-07-21 Comments: (0)
Big Bad Wasps in Westford, Ma.
3:00 PM - Pine Grove Cemetery - Westford, Ma. I'm back again to see if I can snap a few pictures of these Cicada Killer Wasps. It's later in the day and hopefully they won't be as active. Sure enough I sucessfully photographed a male perching on a bush. I find these wasps quite facinating. While they are very large 1 - 2 inches long, they really seem oblivous to my presence. They are buzzing all around me and I'm right in the thick of them.
I'm really not the least bit fearful of them. They don
Date Posted: 2005-07-21 Comments: (2)
Death at Chez Gerry's!
I just don't understand it, I checked the Cicadas today, I had five total live specimens, including the Tibicen lyricen var. engelhardti female that I collected back on July 4th. I inspected the terrarium today and found that all the specimens are dead!! Even the new Tibicen canicularis and Tibicen lyricen male that I collected on the 16th at Fairview cemetery in Westford and the new Tibicen lyricen that I got on the 15th in the evening at Pine Crest Cemetery. All of them dead, dead, dead, dead,
Date Posted: 2005-07-18 Comments: (0)
First T. canicularis Cicada Found.
Fairview Cemetery - Westford. It's very hot and humid today. I decided to try my luck in this new location. Found many exuvia on a lot of trees and head stones. Tibicen canicularis and Tibicen lyricen are happily calling in the trees.
Right off the bat, I found a T. lyricen nymph just starting to eclose on a retaining wall. On this wall were several other exuvia. Since I'm trying to document the different morphologies this year in Tibicen canicularis and Tibicen lyricen cicadas, I decided that
Date Posted: 2005-07-16 Comments: (0)