Tuscumbia, Colbert Co., Alabama (Aug/Sept 2008)
Latitude: 34.73 (Elevation: 466 feet a.s.l.)
Coll. M. Reynolds (+ B. & G. Reynolds)

Tibicen lyricen (Left to Right):
T. lyricen f. lyricen (Female)
T. lyricen f. engelhardti (Male)
T. lyricen f. engelhardti (Female)
T. lyricen nr. engelhardti (Male)

This small series of specimens collected by my brother and his children in nw. Alabama (Tennessee River Valley, western edge of the Cumberland Plateau) is very representative of that region.

Although variable in this part of Alabama, most specimens of T. lyricen are dark, often approaching the form engelhardti. However, a small percentage are more colorfully patterned and richly colored with fulvous patches on the mesonotum (= f. lyricen or nr. lyricen). These more colorful traits increase in frequency as you travel west into Mississippi or southward into the Coastal Plain and Black-Belt Prairies of wc Alabama. I have also observed that the darker forms become increasingly less common or even absent in areas of lower elevation - being replaced by populations composed entirely of f. lyricen.

Moved from Cicadas.