Cicada season in New Zealand begins in November and lasts throughout their Summer months.
Here is a list of the best New Zealand cicada links:
- New Zealand Cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae): A virtual identification guide (landcareresearch.co.nz) A wonderful web site. Includes a visual identification guide, checklist, and image gallery. Photos of dozens of species. (updated 8/18/2024)
- Introducing cicadas (teara.govt.nz) Photos, sounds and 4 paragraphs of information.
- New Zealand cicadas (troutbum.co.nz)
Large photos of Kikihia and Amphipsalta. - Here is a nice article about the cicada Sounds of a Kiwi summer.
- A Flickr gallery of New Zealand Cicadas
2 replies on “New Zealand cicada season”
When we were kids we could identify with many species of cicada. We lived in Thames on the Coromandel and practically lived out side in the bush over the Summer. But sadly when I walk the hills at age 68 , the sounds of many a cicada familiar to me have been extinguished, never to be heard again. I knew of the little gray one that would sing from the clay bank or footpath. Another species that would be in the tall grass meadow at home. Two green coloured ones that would sing from the high Pohutukawa or Coprosma trees. But not heard over the last 30 years. Others that were more or less off the beaten track away from towns are forever silenced. Of course the chorus cicada and a species around the same size are more predominant now.
New Zealand has an especially long cicada season. Some of the Kikihia species, especially the grass ones, can begin in the north in September (early spring), and the northern shrub Kikihia like K. cutora don’t run completely out of gas until July. In warmer, north-facing grassy spots, the odd Kikihia muta male can be heard in any month of the year when a patch of milder weather comes through to bring them out. The Amphipsalta (the noisiest ones), Maoricicada (mountain species), Notopsalta, and Rhodopsalta species tend to have more focused seasons of adult activity.