round-tipped conehead
Neoconocephalus retusus (Scudder 1878)

map	green male	brown male
female	cone

19 s of calling song [1.61MB]; male from Alachua Co., Fla.; 24.5°C. (WTL193-17)

Waveform of 5 s of calling at 24.5°C (from WTL193-17). Peak frequency 14 kHz.
Click on first half of waveform to hear graphed song.
Click on second half of waveform to expand last 0.2 s.

Identification:  A small conehead (length 37-52 mm) with a cone scarcely longer than wide. Wings extend less than 11 mm beyond hind femurs. Ovipositor slender and 30-40 mm long, much longer than hind femur.

Habitat:  Dry to fairly wet grassy or weedy open areas-roadsides, old fields, edges of marshes.

Season:  Aug.–Oct. The last Neoconocephalus to begin calling each summer; n. Fla. data.

Song:  A rather weak, beady, continuous buzz heard from within tangles of vegetation, during afternoons as well as at night.

Song data:  Excel worksheet and chart (from spectrographic analyses).

Similar species:  N. triops has a wider cone; its wings extend more than 11 mm beyond the hind femurs; its ovipositor is shorter, and it sings earlier in the year.

More information:  subfamily Copiphorinae, genus Neoconocephalus

Nomenclature:  OSFO2 (Orthoptera Species File Online)