Decim periodical cicadas

M. neotredecim was first identified when scientists noticed a bimodal split in the dominant pitch (frequency) of male calling songs during the 1998 emergence of Brood XIX.

The name M. neotredecim was given to the variant whose song, abdominal coloring (orange with a black lateral band or center), and mitochondrial DNA resemble the 17-year species M. septendecim.

The earlier name M. tredecim was reserved for the group whose abdomen is mostly orange, whose song has a lower pitch, and whose mitochondrial DNA differs slightly from the two other species of decim cicadas.

[1] The mitochondrial DNA difference observed suggests that the M. tredecim lineage separated from the other decim line about one million years ago.

They are typically found in upland woods and forest-prairie ecotones, favoring deciduous trees and shrubs both for chorus locations and for laying their eggs.