Entomologist Charles Fleming searches for small black cicadas of the Maoricicada genus in Otago’s Old Man Range. During the 1960s and 1970s he, his wife Peg, and entomologist John Dugdale carried out extensive surveys of cicadas. Fleming noted that the distribution of cicada species was linked to areas of scrub refuges during the last glaciation. The cicadas had survived on isolated outcrops that were not wiped clean by ice, and they were still centred on those sites. Cut off from other populations of the same species, the separated populations evolved independently into distinct forms.
Listen to Charles Fleming discuss his study of cicada calls.
Sound file from Radio New Zealand Sound Archives Ngā Taonga Kōrero. Any re-use of this audio is a breach of copyright. To request a copy of the recording, contact Sound Archives Ngā Taonga Kōrero (Cicadas/Reference number T837)
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