Page 44 - AreaNewsletters "Aug 2021" issue

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Music for a Summer Evening
Insect Noises on the Front Range
T
he “dog days” of summer bring with them some of the most noticeable insect activity of the year—the sounds of insect calls. Step outside during the afternoon or evening and you’re likely to hear a raucous mix of invertebrate “vocalizing”. Here are three of the most common.
An adult broadwinged katydid, photo by Whitney Cranshaw.
1. Crickets. You’re probably familiar with the black, ground-dwelling Field Cricket. And yes, they chirp. But in areas with trees and shrubs (like most neighborhoods!) one of the most audibly noticeable crickets is the tree cricket. They are green and slender and smaller than eld crickets, and spend most of their lives in trees and shrubs. Primarily carnivorous, the only plant damage that they cause is during egg-laying, when females make small wounds in twigs in which to oviposit. These wounds can be unsightly as the plant grows over them, and become entry sites for fungi. The Showy Tree Cricket is famous for chirping in correlation with temperature. Count the number of chirps you hear in 15 seconds and add 40—you should have the temperature in Fahrenheit! August 2021 • Castle Rock “AreaNewsletters”
2. Cicadas. Colorado is home to several species of cicada, though the famous “periodical cicadas” are not among them (they occur mostly east of the Mississippi). The largest and loudest cicadas we have get going in late summer. The “Plains Harvest- y” (Megatbicen dealbatus) and “Giant Grasslands Cicada” (M. dorsatus) are most common. In order to attract females, males “sing” by using tymbal organs on their abdomen, producing sounds that are ampli ed by resonating throughout the insect’s body (much like the resonator on a musical instrument). Adult cicadas usually live a month or two, but their juvenile phase, which takes place underground, can last several years.
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