list of species keys home help

sword-bearing conehead

Neoconocephalus ensiger (Harris 1841)

image image image image
map green male stridulatory vein male
image image image  
face view cone female  
12 s of calling song, Washington County, Ohio, 25.0°C. (WTL194-14)
20 s of calling song, 4 caged males from Livingston County, Michigan, 16.3°C. Peak frequency kHz (12). (WTL194-10b)
This waveform is a 5 s excerpt of the 20 s audio file accessible above. Click on waveform to expand last two syllables.
waveform
Song at 25°C: A continuous series of lisps at a rate of 10 per second, sounding like a distant, fast-moving steam locomotive (to those who are old enough to remember). A distinctive song. At low temperatures, neighbors synchronize their lisps.
Song data: Excel worksheet and chart (from spectrographic analyses).
Identification: Length 45-55 mm for males; 52-64 mm for females. Cone with pinched-in sides and a lower surface edged in black; stridulatory vein long and weakly swollen.
Similar species: N. caudellianus is larger and its cone is thicker, with sides less distinctly pinched in. N. nebrascensis and N. lyristes have the lower surface of the cone wholly black or nearly so and stridulatory vein thicker and with more pronounced subsidiary veins.
Habitat: Wet grassy areas; moist fields and roadsides.
Season: September.
More information:
Subfamily Copiphorinae, genus Neoconocephalus.
References: Faure & Hoy 2000, Gwynne 1977, Libersat & Hoy 1991, Shaw et al. 1982.
Nomenclature: OSF (Orthoptera Species File Online).
previous species next species