Say's Cicada

Okanagana rimosa is found in a variety of habitats including eastern deciduous forests, central plains, Rocky Mountain forests, intermountain forests, Pacific coastal/Cascadian forests, and California forests. It is known from California, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania,South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming (U.S.A.) and Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Ontario, and Quebec (Canada). (Sanborn & Phillips 2013)

Okanagana rimosa rimosa is found across the northern United States and adjacent Canada. It is known from California, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming (U.S.A.) and Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Ontario, and Quebec (Canada). (Sanborn & Phillips 2013)

Okanagana rimosa rimosa has been reported from aspen trees (Populus spp.), white birch (Betula papyrifera Marshall), maple (Acer spp.), pine (Pinus spp.), blueberry barrens (Vaccinium spp.), bigtooth aspen (Populus grandidentata Michaux), and blackberries (Rubus alleghaniensis Porter). (Sanborn & Phillips 2013)

No obvious concerns.

Adults emerge from June to July (Strickland 1953).

Recorded from central to southern Alberta (Strickalnd 1953). Occurs from Alberta east to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, south through Minnesota, Vermont, New Hampshire, Mississippi, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa to North Carolina and Tennessee. In the west, ranges south through Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Nevada, Wyoming, Utah, Washington, Oregon to California (Simons 1954, Maw et al. 2000, Brown & Brown 1990).

A moderate-sized, predominantly black cicada with yellowish-orange markings. The relatively narrow forewings (width:length 0.29 - 0.31) will segregate rimosa from O. bella and O. occidentalis. Very similar to O. canadensis; to reliably separate specimens of rimosa from canadensis the structure of the tymbal must be examined, which has 7 to 8 (rarely 9) ribs in rimosa and 10 to 11 ribs in canadensis (Alexander et al. 1972). In Michigan, rimosa is marked with a brighter orange compared to the tan markings of canadensis, but it is not clear if this trait holds up for Alberta populations since museum material is limited. There are likely habitat and song differences as well, but this data is also lacking for Alberta populations.

Dry deciduous and mixedwood forest.

"Duration of immature stages unknown, but undoubtedly several years as in other species of the genus. Males perch in various types of vegetation to sing, often among trees greater than three metres above ground. Males emit an alarm sound when handled or harassed (Cooley 2001). Females can acoustically locate calling males during flight, and approach males by walking or shorter flights once visual contact has been made (Stölting et al. 2002). Parasitoid flies are known to exploit the singing behaviour of males to locate potential host cicadas on which to deposit larvae (Lakes et al. 2000, Koehler & Lakes 2001). A song portion of O. rimosa in Michigan can be found at: