Male cicadas produce species-specific calling songs to attract conspecific receptive females, and they typically occupy tree trunks or branches during calling. We studied calling site preference in the natural environment for four species of cicada: Cryptotympana dubia, Meimuna opalifera, Oncotympana fuscata, and Meimuna mongolica. Males of M. opalifera tended to sing singly in trees, whereas other species were often observed singing together in one tree. In some cases, two or three individuals of different species sang together in one tree; the only possible pairwise combination not observed was M. mongolica with O. fuscata. Calling sites of the four species differed significantly in distance to the ground and distance to trunk, and both tree height and tree crown were significant factors for calling site preference in multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). Distance from calling site to the ground was highest in C. dubia, followed by M. opalifera, M. mongolica, and O. fuscata. The distance from calling site to the trunk was greatest in M. opalifera and differed significantly from those of other species, which tended to sing close to tree trunks. Males of M. opalifera were mobile when they produced calling songs, whereas males of other species were stationary. That is, males of M. opalifera sang only for short periods of time and moved around adjacent trees. Segregation of calling sites suggests that these four cicada species occupy different niches, thereby avoiding competition for calling sites as much as possible.

Male cicadas produced species-specific calling songs to attract conspecific receptive females. Male cicadas typically occupy tree trunks or tree branches during calling song production. We studied calling site preference in four species of cicada: Cryptotympana dubia, Meimuna opalifera, Oncotympana fuscata, and Meimuna mongolica. Several males were observed to sing together in a tree in C. dubia, but males of other species tended to sing singly in trees. There were also cases in which two or three individuals of different species sang together in a tree. Species differed significantly in height of and distance to trunk from calling site. Both tree height and tree crown were significant factors for calling site preference. The height of calling site was the highest in C. dubia, followed by M. opalifera, M. mongolica, and O. fuscata. The distance to trunk from calling site in M. opalifera was the farthest and was significantly different from those of other species. Males of other species tended to sing close to tree trunks. Males of M. opalifera were mobile when they produced calling songs, whereas males of other species were stationary. That is, males of M. opalifera sang only for short periods of time and moved around adjacent trees. Segregation of calling sites suggests that these four cicada species occupy different sections of trees, thereby avoiding competition for calling sites.