Patterns of morphology and behaviour in a cicada guild: A neutral model analysis

Morphological and behavioural patterns were examined in a guild of nine species of eastern Australian cicadas. Co-occurrence in, and structure of, 44 study plots were determined to relate morphological and behavioural patterns to habitat overlap and habitat structure. Multi-variate analyses were employed to generate relationships between the species. Guild substructure shown by the habitat analyses cannot be predicted from the group substructure indicated by the morphology/behaviour analyses. Therefore, extant combinations appear to be random collections from the nine-species pool insofar as morphology and behaviour are concerned. In particular, the most generalized species (in terms of habitat) are relatively extreme in morphology and behaviour, and vice versa. Despite these results, there are weak indications that at least two suites of characters exist, and that one of them is associated with each of the most extreme types of habitat. The reasons for these apparently contradictory results are discussed. There is no evidence to suggest that systematic morphological divergence has occurred in this guild.