Fidicinoides picea (Walker)

SUEUR, JÉRÔME, 2002, Cicada acoustic communication: potential sound partitioning in a multispecies community from Mexico (Hemiptera: Cicadomorpha: Cicadidae), Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 75 (3), pp. 379-394 : 385

FIDICINOIDES PICEA ( FIG. 7 )

Seasonal rhythm. From March to May, end of the dry season.

Nycthemeral rhythm. From 6.30 a.m. to 7.40 p.m. with higher activity at dawn and dusk.

Calling site and calling posture. Inhabited the canopy, on trunks and primary stems. Vertical movements of the abdomen coincided with amplitude modulations.

Calling song. Began with a first part (A) lasting 18.23s ± 3.00 (14.82–22.93, 7) and consisting of a succession of echemes whose length decreased and repetition rate increased such that they aggregated and produced a final, long whistling (part B) which lasted up to several minutes and had a low amplitude modulation of 10 Hz. Echemes of part A were composed of groups of three pulses emitted with an increasing repetition rate and amplitude. Part B was made of the same pulses but without grouping. Pulses of both parts were produced at 200 Hz repetition rate. The song was sharply tuned with a frequency band at about 3270 Hz.

Behaviour. Gregarious: individuals observed at low altitude and at low density sang approximately two times (1.73 ± 1.33, 1–6, 15) and then flew to another calling site. It is not known if this behaviour occurred in the canopy where the density was higher. During intensive activity, calling males produced loud choruses with synchronization of the whistling.

Figures

Figure 7. Calling song of Fidicinoides picea. (A) Oscillogram and sonogram of an entire call; (B) detail of one echeme of part A, (C) height groups of three pulses of part A; (D) elementary oscillations of six pulses of part B.