rlsanders's Identifications

Molts of Tibicen auletes on White Oak
http://bugguide.net/node/view/6968

Photo Credits:
Pic #1 - Bill Reynolds
Pic #2 - Bill Reynolds
Pic #3 - Jesse Anderson
Pic #4 - Jesse Anderson
Pic #5 - Jesse Anderson

Pic's from an auletes site here in NC!

We collected hundreds of casts from oaks and filled containers with molts picked up from the ground.

We also collected Sunday the 26th ~8:00 pm & again Monday evening the 27th; the numbers of auletes were unbelievable.

Although auletes is a very common cicada locally - and across the South, I have never seen anything like the density and activity for auletes here off Lake Wheeler Rd.

Sunday evening, we arrived a little before 8:00 pm and the chorus was ear blasting. We managed to catch only 2 with an extension net. The following evening, my assistant, Evie, and I left the museum around 5:00pm and arrived shortly after. She and I collected shells, dead specimens, and scanned the trees for adults, but we couldn't see nor did we hear any among the branches. Approx. 7:30pm, Evie and I heard the occasional flutter of wings, squawk of a male and spotted a few move from tree to tree. There was an occasional random short burst as though a male was gearing up to call, but then would fall silent ... seemed a bit strange. Most impressive was what followed! As the last rays of sun shone through the upper most branches several steady buzzes began to be heard...then at 7:47 pm on Monday, 27 August - as the sun slipped below the horizon - a single male auletes started to call from an old growth post oak - within fractions of a second - the roar of ensuing calls moved from tree to tree in a wave. I have observed this phenom among taxa within the pruinosus group, but never in auletes. Then again, I have never seen auletes in these densities! I managed to collect 5 specimens in 18 minutes of available light ... after which we could no longer pinpoint them in the dark - made collecting impossible; however, the males continued to call 30 to 40 minutes more - well after dark.