Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Clickable Guide
Moths Butterflies Flies Caterpillars Flies Dragonflies Flies Mantids Cockroaches Bees and Wasps Walkingsticks Earwigs Ants Termites Hoppers and Kin Hoppers and Kin Beetles True Bugs Fleas Grasshoppers and Kin Ticks Spiders Scorpions Centipedes Millipedes

Calendar

Wisconsin Oecanthinancy, Contributing Editor
Full name:
Wisconsin Oecanthinancy
City, state, country:
Southeastern Wisconsin
Biography:

Totally obsessed with Tree Crickets :D


An accidentally grown sunflower on my small 3d story patio was the chosen singing spot for a male Neoxabea bipunctata in the fall of 2006. I was smitten with not only his singing; but also the fact that he had made 5 separate holes of the same size, shape and location on each of 5 leaves...which he used as a baffle to amplify the sound of his song by putting his opened wings over the hole. Amazing.

In the summer of 2008, I raised approximately 50 tree crickets in 'Oecanthinariums' in order to gain some expertise in identification of species as well as to document their behaviors. Wisconsin is apparently a great state for Oecanthinae...as I have found Forbes', Snowy, Two-spotted, Four-spotted, Narrow-winged, Pine, and Davis' --- all within a one-block area from my front door.

I only study Oecanthinae...and will begin adding information to the guide pages for all species. My mission is to bring Tree Crickets to the forefront of the insect world -- since the sounds of late summer/early autumn would not be the same without them!



I'm still working on my website: http://www.oecanthinae.com/

My mission is to increase awareness of, and thus popularity of, tree crickets. I have written a children's book entitled

Trixie the Tree Cricket

-- it can be purchased or downloaded at
http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/trixie-the-tree-cricket/5272897


I have also written All About Tree Crickets -- it can be purchased at https://www.amazon.com/about-Tree-Crickets-Nancy-Collins/dp/147870134X

Nancy Collins

Here are new species I have helped describe:

Walker T.J. and Collins N.J. 2010. New world thermometer crickets: the Oecanthus rileyi species group and a new species from North America. Orthoptera Journal of Research. 19: 371-376. http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/walker/buzz/s576lwc10.pdf


Collins N. and Symes L. 2012. Oecanthus walkeri: a new species of tree cricket from Texas. Orthoptera Journal of Research. 21(1): 51-56. http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/walker/buzz/574lcs12.pdf


Symes L. and Collins N. 2013. Oecanthus texensis: A New Species of Tree Cricket from the Western United States. Journal of Orthoptera Research, 22(2):87-91 http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/walker/buzz/s576lsc13.pdf


Collins N., Vandenberghe, E. and Carson, L. 2014. Two New Species of Neoxabea, Three New Species of Oecanthus, and Documentation of Two Other Species in Nicaragua (Orthoptera: Gryllidae: Oecanthinae) Transactions of the Entomological Society, 140(1):163-184.http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.3157/061.140.0111?journalCode=taes


Collins N, Coronado González IM, Govaerts BVA (2019) Oecanthus mhatreae sp. nov. (Gryllidae: Oecanthinae): A new species of tree cricket from Mexico, with an irregular song pattern and unique chirp-like trill configuration. Journal of Orthoptera Research 28(2): 137-143. https://doi.org/10.3897/jor.28.33781

Collins, N. & K.R. Schneider. 2020. Oecanthus salvii sp. nov. (Orthoptera: Gryllidae: Oecanthinae): A new tree cricket species from Modoc County in northeast California. Jour. Orth. Res. 29(1):93 https://jor.pensoft.net/article/50400/

Collins, N., Coronado González, Rocha-Sánchez, Govaerts & Hershberger. Oecanthus rohiniae sp. nov. (Gryllidae: Oecanthinae): A new chirping tree cricket of the rileyi species group from Mexico. Jour. Orth. Res. 30(1):8 https://jor.pensoft.net/article/50039/[url/]

Collins, N. & Velazco-Macias. 2021. Neoxabea mexicana sp. nov. (Gryllidae: Oecanthinae): A new species from Mexico and a key for Neoxabea in North and Central America. Jour. Orth. Res. 30(2):100 [url]https://jor.pensoft.net/article/62000/


Collins, N. & Lightfoot. 2022. A new species of tree cricket (Orthoptera, Gryllidae, Oecanthinae) from Chihuahuan Desert gypsum dunes in the United States and a key to the nigricornis species group. Jour. Orth. Res. 31(2):183 https://jor.pensoft.net/article/79036/