Neotibicen Pruinosus on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
''Neotibicen pruinosus'', commonly known as the scissor grinder, is a species of cicada in the family
A rare pale variant of the scissor grinder occurs in southeastern 
Cicadidae
Cicadidae, the true cicadas, is the largest family of cicadas, with more than 3,200 species worldwide. The oldest known definitive fossils are from the Paleocene, a nymph from the Cretaceous Burmese amber has been attributed to the family, but co ...
.
Distribution and Habitat
The scissor grinder occurs in most of the easternUnited States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. It is common in wooded areas, often within grassland environments.
Taxonomy
All species in the genus ''Neotibicen
Cicadas of the genus ''Neotibicen'' are large-bodied insects of the family Cicadidae that appear in summer or early fall in eastern North America. Common names include cicada, harvestfly, jar fly, and the misnomer locust. In 2015, these species ...
'' used to be part of the genus ''Tibicen
''Tibicen'' is an historical genus name in the insect family Cicadidae (order Hemiptera) that was originally published by P. A. Latreille in 1825 and formally made available in a translation by A. A. Berthold in 1827. The name was placed on the Of ...
,'' until ''Tibicen'' was split into multiple genera. ''Neo'' is Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
for "new" while ''tibicen'' is Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
for "flute player" or "piper".
The specific name ''pruinosus'' is Latin for "frosty". Its common name, the scissor grinder, comes from its sound, like all the other cicadas that are known as scissor grinders. They all sound like scissors being run over a grinding wheel.
Diet
Scissor grinders, like all other cicadas, use theirproboscis
A proboscis () is an elongated appendage from the head of an animal, either a vertebrate or an invertebrate. In invertebrates, the term usually refers to tubular mouthparts used for feeding and sucking. In vertebrates, a proboscis is an elong ...
, a type of insect mouthpart similar to a straw, to pierce trees and drink fluid from the xylem
Xylem is one of the two types of transport tissue in vascular plants, the other being phloem. The basic function of xylem is to transport water from roots to stems and leaves, but it also transports nutrients. The word ''xylem'' is derived from ...
.
Description
The scissor grinder is similar in appearance to many other species in its genus. It is mostly green with many complex markings on its body. Itsabdomen
The abdomen (colloquially called the belly, tummy, midriff, tucky or stomach) is the part of the body between the thorax (chest) and pelvis, in humans and in other vertebrates. The abdomen is the front part of the abdominal segment of the torso. ...
is entirely black.
A rare pale variant of the scissor grinder occurs in southeastern Kansas
Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...
and eastern Oklahoma
Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
. This variant is far lighter in coloring than its common variant.
Subspecies
These two subspecies belong to the species ''Neotibicen pruinosus'': * ''Neotibicen pruinosus fulvus'' (Beamer, 1924) c g * ''Neotibicen pruinosus pruinosus'' g Data sources: i = ITIS, c = Catalogue of Life, g = GBIF, b = Bugguide.netSee also
* '' Neotibicen winnemanna'', the eastern scissor grinder * '' Neotibicen latifasciatus'', the coastal scissor grinderReferences
Further reading
* * * * *External links
* * Insects described in 1825 Cryptotympanini {{Cicadidae-stub