Found throughout most of Aotearoa New Zealand
Chorus cicada
Māori name: kihikihi wawa, matua kihikihi, ngengeti
English name: Chorus cicada
Scientific name: Amphipsalta zealandica (Boisduval)
Order: Hemiptera
Family: Cicadidae
- is found throughout most of Aotearoa / New Zealand;
- typically lives in tall forest (or where tall forest used to be);
- males "sing" in unison;
- when numerous males sing together they can produce a deafening, strident uproar, which suddenly changes to synchronised "clicks" as the wings are clapped against the tree trunk;
- females lay eggs in herringbone-patterned slots in branches;
- nymphs hatch out the following spring and drop down to the ground;
- nymphs spend several years underground, sucking sap from tree roots;
- a nymph emerges from a wide burrow when ready to become an adult, climbs a tree trunk, and splits its skin down the back. The adult pulls itself out, expands its wings, and flies off.