Approximately 18 s of calling song; caged male recorded outdoors while synchronizing with three other nearby caged males, from Cape May Co., N.J.; 25.7°C. (WTL197-17)
20 s of calling song; caged male isolated in small room and exposed to broadcast of a single buzz at varied, infrequent intervals, from Cape May Co., N.J.; 25.5°C. Peak frequency 11 kHz. (WTL197-18a)
This waveform is a 5 s excerpt of the 20 s audio file accessible above. Click on waveform to expand next-to-last complete chirp.
25 s of calling song; caged male isolated in small room and exposed to loud, voiced imitation buzzes of varied durations, from Cape May Co., N.J.; 25.5°C. (WTL197-18d)
Song:
Loud, raspy, brief (0.1 sec.) buzzes produced regularly for at least a few seconds at a rate of about 3 per sec. Neighboring individuals synchronize. This synchrony is illustrated above. The first recording (WTL197-17) is of a chorus of four males calling from small screen cages on a table outdoors. The large buzz-to-buzz changes in intensity may be attributed to males dropping out of the chorus and reentering it, always keeping in near perfect synchrony with the buzzes of their neighbors. The next two recordings are of a single male calling from a screen cage in a small room. In WTL197-18a, a single buzz was played from a speaker at infrequent intervals. Because no played-back buzz can be detected in the 20 s sample, the variations in intensity of the buzzes of the single male cannot be attributed to other males joining or dropping from a chorus. In WTL197-18d, TJW injected into the song of the male a loud voiced buzz of varied durations (but never as brief as the buzzes of the conehead). If the injected buzz was loud enough, the male would cease singing until the injected buzz ceased.
The conehead with the longest cone: 4-6 mm, measured from the ventral tooth to the tip. Ovipositor 35-50 mm. Length 49-66 mm for males and 53-74 for females.
Similar species:
N. lyristes has a shorter, more slender-tipped cone.
Habitat:
Wet or moist thickets, canebrakes, cattail marshes, along streams in forests, cornfields.
