Nebraska conehead
Neoconocephalus nebrascensis (Bruner 1891)

map	green male	brown male
face view	cone	pronotum
file

	20 s of calling song [1.72MB]; male from Hinds Co., Miss.; 25.0°C. (WTL196-5)
	20 s of calling song [1.67MB]; males from Pope Co., Ill., synchronizing ; 22.8°C. (WTL196-9)

Waveform of 5 s of calling at 25.0°C (from WTL196-5). Peak frequency 9 kHz.
Click on first half of waveform to hear graphed song.
Click on second half of waveform to expand last 0.2 of last buzz.

Identification:  A small conehead with a prominent cone that is largely black on its lower surface. Side of pronotum with shallow, obtuse notch at rear (as in drawing above). First 10-15 teeth at lateral end of stridulatory file conspicuously more widely spaced than remaining teeth. Length 44-56 mm.

Habitat:  Grassy, weedy, and brushy fields and roadsides. Often sings from shrubby trees.

Season:  July–Sept.

Song:  A loud buzz lasting longer than 1 sec. repeated every 2 sec. Neighboring individuals partially synchronize their buzzes. All complete a buzz before a new buzz begins, but synchronizing individuals do not begin their buzzes simultaneously.

Song data:  Excel worksheet and chart (from spectrographicanalyses).

Similar species:  N. lyristes has the side of the pronotum with a deeper, almost right-angle notch at rear; the first 10–15 teeth at the lateral end of the stridulatory file are not conspicuously more widely spaced than subsequent teeth. N. melanorhinus occurs on tidal flats; pronotum and file are more like N. lyisters. N. ensiger has a thin, long stridulatory vein and its cone has the black beneath more nearly confined to the edges.

More information:  subfamily Copiphorinae, genus Neoconocephalus

References:  Meixner & Shaw 1979, 1986.

Nomenclature:  OSFO2 (Orthoptera Species File Online)