appear in far northeastern Illinois? We thought it was a southern Illinois possibility.

They were reported in Champaign County this year, which isn't too far from Cook Co. But that does seem to be clearly beyond the emergence area for this year's brood XIX.

Was this specimen a lone individual?

I suppose we could be looking at a brood XIII straggler that didn't have his alarm clock set and missed the 2007 emergence. I learned that happens more often than I previously thought. If that's the case, it's probably a septendecim.

The best way to be sure would be a recording of the call. Wish I could be more help! :)

That would certainly explain the "errant" reports coming from Chicago (Oak Park) and Peoria (East Peoria) on one of the maps I found online...This one was pretty hefty, suggesting septendecim. Plus, it looked like it might have been bloated with that fungus.

That makes sense, as I thought that white on the abdomen looked like a possible Massospora infection. It most likely is, as it's right at about the typical place where the end of the abdomen will break off. I wasn't sure without a clear view, but my guess is that it was infected.