Large cicada now in Dunedin
NEW Zealand’s largest cicada is now established in mature trees in the builtup area of Dunedin. Until 2014, it was not present here and Dunedin was omitted from all of its published distribution maps.
In March this year, I heard individuals singing in the trees behind the Roman Catholic Holy Name Church near the North Rd and Buccleugh St intersection, and also saw and observed two individuals in trees on University of Otago property near the Cumberland St and Union St intersection.
I first observed, and heard, an individual of this species in Dunedin in 2014, near St Margaret’s College, and also in the oak trees lining the
Dunedin North playing field. Those cicadas delighted all who saw them.
This large cicada is the chorus cicada, kihikihi wawa, Amphipsalta zealandica. The thorax is very fat across the middle and the wings are exceptionally long. The body is 26mm long but with the folded wings added, its length attains 40mm. The body is bright green, the leading edge of the forewing is green, and the base of the
wing veins on the underside of the wings near the thorax are blue. The song is a very loud ‘‘dididididididi . . . zurp (click, click)’’, repeated.
This cicada occurs throughout the North Island, Stewart Island, and the South Island, except for a big area in South Canterbury and Otago,
from the Southern Alps to the seashore in the east, where its habitat is missing. The cicadas are found in tall trees in native and introduced forests, forest plantations, and in big gardens with tall trees.
A common small green cicada found throughout Dunedin is Kikihia subalpina.