Both species are distinguished by broad orange stripes on the abdomen and a unique high-pitched song said to resemble someone calling "weeeee-whoa" or "Pharaoh."

[2][3] Experiments subsequently demonstrated the existence of two populations of female cicadas that responded selectively based on the two male song frequencies.

[2] 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 and abdominal coloring (orange with a black lateral band or center) resemble the 17-year species M. septendecim.

[4] The discovery of Magicicada neotredecim showed that four reproductively isolated 13-year periodical cicada species emerge together in a narrow region from southern Indiana to northwest Arkansas (encompassing sections of Broods XIX and XXIII).