Jeffrey A. Cole
The Pan-Pacific Entomologist 97 (1), 13-27, (31 March 2021) https://doi.org/10.3956/2021-97.1.13
KEYWORDS: Calling song, courtship song, mate recognition, Mojave Desert, North American warm deserts, sympatry
This work presents the first bioacoustical analysis of the complex calling songs of the North American desert cicada genus Cacama Distant, 1904 and treats all species known from the California fauna. Analysis of field recordings found three characters that vary significantly among species: syllable rate, the number of pulses per syllable, and the mean frequency during the main portion of an echeme. A bivariate plot of syllable rate and pulse number separates all California species. The results confirm that a fourth species, C. mooreiSanborn & M. Heath, 2011 belongs to the California state fauna. Courtship songs of C. moorei and C. valvata (Uhler, 1888) are described and the role of songs in mate recognition is discussed.