Tibicen robinsonianus Davis

Sanborn, Allen F., Phillips, Polly K. & Gilllis, Philip, 2008, The Cicadas of Florida (Hemiptera: Cicadoidea: Cicadidae), Zootaxa 1916, pp. 1-43 : 11

Tibicen robinsonianus Davis (Figs. 70, 112–120)

Tibicen robinsoniana Davis 1922: 41 . Type locality: Wingina, Nelson County , Virginia. Holotype male is in the American Museum of Natural History ( Sanborn 1999).

A single specimen of Tibicen robinsonianus was collected on 13-X-1940. The species emerges in mid-June and can be heard singing until early October in more northern parts of its distribution. The most common collection dates are in July and August in other parts of the country. The song is more typical of an orthopteran than a cicada. It is a series of repeated, raspy buzzes produced at a rate of about 1 sec -1 with peak frequency of about 5 kHz ( Alexander 1956; Elliott and Hershberger 2006). Davis (1922) described the song as a “long, drawn out zape, zape, zape” produced by dorsoventral movements of the abdomen producing each “zape”. He later described the song as a “z-z-zip” ( Davis 1923b). A sonagram of the call can be found in Alexander (1956; 1960) and Elliott and Hershberger (2006). The species is difficult to collect as it tends to call from high in the trees and the emergence densities are minimal.

There is a single known collection site for T. robinsonianus at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola is located in the western panhandle (Fig. 70). This location is in the Gulf Coast Flatwoods division of the Southern Coastal Plain ecoregion. We have records from the Southeastern Plains ecoregion outside of Florida. The known collection site in Escambia County will probably be augmented with further collecting. Davis (1922; 1923; 1925; 1932) associated the species with tall trees, especially blackjack oak ( Quercus marilandica [L.]), other oaks ( Quercus spp.), and cedar (probably Juniperus virginiana L.).