Magicicada neotredecim Marshall and Cooley 2000
M. neotredecim was described in 2000 (see Evolution Vol. 54, No.4, Pp. 1313-1325).
M. neotredecim and its closest relative,
M. septendecim,
are consistently distinguishable only in
life cycle length. The new species is similar to 13-year
M. tredecim,
but distinguishable
in male song pitch, female song pitch preferences (Marshall and Cooley 2000), abdomen color, and mitochondrial DNA
(mtDNA) lineage (Simon et al. 1998, Martin and Simon 1988, 1990). These findings are consistent with the theory that
M. neotredecim
evolved from populations of
M. septendecim
by a life cycle change (Martin and Simon 1988, 1990, Marshall and Cooley, 2000, Simon et al. 2000).
The two 13-year -decim
species have a special geographic relationship -- they are not sympatric (living together) across the entire 13-year range.
M. neotredecim
inhabits the midwestern part of the 13-year range, while
M. tredecim
inhabits the southern and southeastern part. The two species
overlap only along a narrow region in northern Arkansas, western Kentucky, and southern Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana.
By comparison, the three 17-year species are found together from Connecticut to Kansas, and the remaining 13-year species
together inhabit most 13-year populations. Where
M. neotredecim
and
M. tredecim
M. neotredecim
songs are much higher-pitched, while
M. tredecim
songs are slightly lower-pitched. This suggests that the songs have evolved to reduce wasteful sexual interactions between the species.
The photos show that M. neotredecim is extremely similar to 17-year M. septendecim in
appearance. The dark bands on the underside of the abdomen are similar to those of M. septendecim. Again, the
calling song of M. neotredecim is very high-pitched only where it overlaps M. tredecim geographically; the sample
below is taken from this overlap zone. Outside
of that region, M. neotredecim songs sound like those of M. septendecim.
Magicicada neotredecim songs:
©2008