Tibicen lyricen lyricen (De Geer)

Sanborn, Allen F., Phillips, Polly K. & Gilllis, Philip, 2008, The Cicadas of Florida (Hemiptera: Cicadoidea: Cicadidae), Zootaxa 1916, pp. 1-43 : 9

Tibicen lyricen lyricen (De Geer) (Figs. 71, 76–84)

Adults first emerge in early to mid-June and can be heard singing until early November. The most common collection dates are in mid-August and September. The song has been described as a coarse, rough buzz or rattling trill with a peak frequency of about 7 kHz that can last for more than a minute produced mainly during the day ( Alexander 1956; Moore 1966; Alexander et al. 1972; Elliott and Hershberger 2006). The trills are produced at a rate of about 42 sec -1. The song begins and ends as a low amplitude, un-modulated buzz similar to what is heard in other Tibicen species. It has been described as a monotonous “zing” ( Davis 1918; Lawson 1920). A sonagram of the call can be found in Alexander (1956; 1960) and Elliott and Hershberger (2006). The species has been associated with oak ( Quercus spp.) woods that contain maple ( Acer spp.) and beeches ( Fagus grandifolia Ehrhart ) ( Moore 1966) and have been observed to oviposit in oak, persimmon ( Diospyros virginiana L.) and peach ( Prunus persica (L.) Batsch) ( Beamer 1925).

Tibicen lyricen lyricen has been reported from Alachua, Bay, Brevard, Citrus, Columbia, Dade, Franklin, Gadsden, Hernando, Jefferson, Liberty, Levy, Okaloosa, Orange, Putnam, Sarasota, Sumter, Volusia, and Walton counties in Florida. There is also a specimen in the Smithsonian Institution, United States National Museum labeled from William’s Landing in Taylor County, although that location cannot be verified. The species is found in all ecoregions of Florida but is restricted to the Miami Ridge/Atlantic Coastal Strip in the Southern Florida Coastal Plain. The distributions of T. l. lyricen and T. l. virescens (Fig. 71) overlap significantly suggesting the validity of the subspecies needs further investigation.