Morphological Features of Okanagana rimosa

Morphological Features of Okanagana rimosa

A couple of weeks ago I spent the day in Silver Lake New Hampshire as part of my projects to map cicada species in New England. I was very successful in capturing several specimens of Okanagana rimosa here. So I thought we would spend some time focusing on the morphology of this species. In some species of cicadas like the tibicens morphology can vary extremely depending on geographic location and habitat. However, even in O. rimosa there are slight differences in morphology even among individuals from the same location.

Dorsal and Lateral Views

Okanagana rimosa is a small cicada. At roughly 3 to 4 centimeters long (including the wings) I liken it to about the same size as Magicicada cassini from the periodical cicadas. Their heads are narrower than the pronotum and is one of the keys to the classification of cicadas from this genus. Another key are the open (exposed) timbals in males. Eye color in live adults can range anywhere from dark grey to black.

Their bodies are black in color with orange markings on the dorsal and lateral surfaces but some yellow examples have been found in other areas of New England. The pronotal collar is black and is bisected with orange towards the posterior. The pronotum is generally black with lateral orange patches that can go from non-existant to heavily infuscated. These patterns can vary even among the same localized populations.

Abdominal Views in Okanagana rimosa

Below is a series of lateral abdominal views in 5 specimens of male O. rimosa cicadas. As in other cicadas of this genus, the abdomens are generally black with an orange stripe located on the rear edge of each individual tergite. These cicadas can also have varying degrees of pubescence depending upon age.

Okanagana rimosa Ventral Views

The ventral surface of O. rimosa is generally orange with varying degrees of black. Legs are orange with a longitudinal black stripe on the femur and tibia of the middle and hind legs.

Ventral abdominal color patterns can vary among individual. The sternites of some individuals can be heavily infuscated with black while others can have no black infuscation at all.

Okanagana calling song

In closing I'd like to leave you with this video of a male O. rimosa calling in captivity that I produced several years ago. If you hear something similar please report it.