rattler conehead
Neoconocephalus affinis (Beauvois 1805)

map	male	cone	female

	14 s of calling song [1.20MB]; male from Milot, Haiti, W.I.; 24.0°C. (WTL185-3)
	6 s of calling song [517KB]; same as above but truncated.

Waveform of 2 s of calling at 24.0°C (from WTL185-3). Peak frequency 11 kHz.
Click on first half of waveform to hear graphed song.
Click on second half of waveform to expand last 0.2 s.

Identification:  Anterior ventral carina of middle femur with 3 or 4 spines; stridulatory vein, viewed from above, exceeding 3 mm and of approximate uniform width; cone as in drawing above. Length 47-59 mm for males and 53-70 for females.

Habitat:  Tropical hammock.

Season:  Aug. (perhaps year-round).

Song:  Bouts of rattling, mostly between 1 and 4 h after sunset, with component sequences lasting 1 sec to 5 min or longer.

Song data:  Excel worksheet and chart (from spectrographic analyses).

Similar species:  N. maxillosus, which has the anterior ventral carina of the middle femur with 0-1 spines; stridulatory vein, viewed from above, less than 3 mm.

Remarks:  N. affinis is common throughout the Caribbean but in the United States is known only from northern Key Largo.

More information:  subfamily Copiphorinae, genus Neoconocephalus

References:  Brush et al. 1985; Greenfield 1983, 1993.

Nomenclature:  OSF (Orthoptera Species File Online)