When does Okanagana Season Begin? - Part 2

When does Okanagana Season Begin? - Part 2

As previously mentioned in part one, I wanted to check the earliest time I could expect to hear O. rimosa males calling. So going to my favorite area for O. rimosa, the Montague Plains wildlife management area, I intended to find out. I suspected that since my previous day's trip to New Hampshire was very successful in that I found evidence of Okanagana exuvia and additionally, heard males calling in the trees there, I was hoping for the same at Montague.

Okanagana rimosa Definitely Here!

I arrived at Montague Plains on the early side of 9:00 am. The day was hot and sunny and as I expected Okanagana were heard calling in the trees. There seemed to be more males calling than at the New Hamphsire site. This is to be expected since Montague is approximately 200 miles south of the New Hampshire site. I also expect that the season for Okanagana here started approximately one week earlier than in New Hampshire.

While there seemed to be more males calling here, I surmise that here in Massachusetts, peak emergence time has not yet been reached. I expect that to be around the middle to the end of June. After extensive searching of the area I was still unable to find any evidence of exuvia or live nymphs. I did manage to catch one male specimen though. It was calling from a low scrub oak at the end of the day which I considered a bonus.

So, What does this Tell Us?

Well, it tells us a lot actually. It says that perhaps Okanagana (which is proto-periodical) and Magicicada (which are periodical) may not be so different. Both seem to emerge around the same time (middle to end of May) or within a week of each other but that Magicicadas emerge once every 13 or 17 years - depending upon geographic location. Okanagana and Magicicada are quite similar and are often confused especially when Okanagana experiences heavy emergence years. Maybe Okanagana is on its way to becoming fully Periodical like Magicicada. And finally, since I have successfully documented Okanagana being around in May this means that the cicada season here in the north just got about two weeks longer.