Dead T. canicularis Found at St. Patrick Cemetery

Dead T. canicularis Found at St. Patrick Cemetery

11:30 am - Back again today. This is probably going to be the last day for me to obtain specimens as I feel I've got a lot of data to start building up the remaining pages of this new web site. Besides, it's getting cooler now (winter is coming early it seems) and I need to do work on my driveway which will take a few weeks to do. Plus I'll need to get the snow blower ready for the winter season. After all, this was supposed to be only a hobby!!

At the cemetery today I have to take a wide survey of St. Patrick's in order to find any Cicadas. I find another Tibicen canicularis female on a pine tree that I visit regularly. It is still in the process of emerging. I also found a dead female Tibicen canicularis under another pine tree. It obviously had mated and laid eggs somewhere because it died with the ovipositor exposed.

Very interesting because the females that I captured that laid eggs in captivity didn't die with their ovipositors exposed. I read somewhere that a female may even die with the ovipositor still inserted into a tree twig. With the ovipositor exposed this tells me that this may have happened to this female as well.

Hrmm, I wonder if it would be possible to dissect this female to see if any eggs still remain within. The same can be done with the females that laid eggs in captivity. I may have to try this now or maybe as an experiment next year.

With regards to the live female that I discovered in the process of molting, I left it for about an hour. When I came back to retrieve it, it wasn't in the immediate area of the exuvum. I looked approximately 10 feet up and discovered it making its way up the side of the pine tree even before the wings were fully expanded. I've never seen this before!

Cicadas usually stay within the relative area of their exuvum and wait till their wings fully expand before they move anywhere. The whole process uses a lot of energy.

I don't know if it was because it was a windy day today and its wings were blowing freely and was trying to get out of the wind so they would develop properly. Another possibility is maybe it felt a bit too exposed and wanted to seek safety by way of height from predators.

This may explain why some cicadas that I have discovered mid-molt when I went back to check on their progress they too were gone despite the fact that not enough time had passed in order to complete the entire molt process.

Suffice it to say I was able to retrieve this female by using a rather long stick. I put it in a specimen jar where it finished the molt process. It is now in the terrarium with the other females. I'm still hearing lots of Tibicen canicularis in the trees. Very few Tibicen lyricen are calling now.