Te Marama o Matarik He Maramataka Māori - Kohi Tātea
8th Month of the Matariki Year - January/February
Kei te kai ngā manu i ngā huarākau o te Kōtukutuku kei te rongohia te waiata o te tātarakihi i te atatū. He maha ngā putiputi o te Rātā me te Kānuka. Kua reri ki te hauhake i ngā huawhenua tuatahi.
Birds feed on the fruit of the Fuchsia. The songs of Cicadas are heard in the first light. Northern Rata and large Teatree are covered in flowers and the first foods are ripe.
Birds feed on the fruit of the Fuchsia. The songs of Cicadas are heard in the first light. Northern Rata and large Teatree are covered in flowers and the first foods are ripe.
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Tātarakihi Cicada
Melampsalta cingulata
Melampsalta cingulata
‘Te tātarakihi, te pihareinga; ko ngā manu ēnā o Rēhua.’
‘The cicada and the cricket are the song birds of Rehua.’
This whakatauākī (proverb) is a reference to the heat of the summer,
when the sounds of cicadas and crickets are heard.
‘The cicada and the cricket are the song birds of Rehua.’
This whakatauākī (proverb) is a reference to the heat of the summer,
when the sounds of cicadas and crickets are heard.
The days are long and hot and the first foods have ripened when the entrancing sounds of Tātarakihi are heard during Kohi Tātea.
Tātarakihi, known also as Tarakihi and Kihikihi, are large tropical cicadas found in grasslands and scrub, sand dunes and swamps from the coast to the subalpine regions of the North Island and some parts of the South Island of New Zealand. They appear from their dark underground burrows to mate during hot summer months.
They have four clear membranous wings attached to a tapering body with three sets of small legs and two bulbous eyes that protrude from the sides of its broad shaped blunt head. The large wings of the males quiver together to create clicking sounds heard at the end of each deafening chorus. It is only the males who are heard, females remain silent.
The eggs of Tātarakihi are laid on leaves of small shrubs and trees. On hatching, the lavae fall to the ground and tunnel into the earth where they feed on the root systems of trees. When the lavae mature they re-emerge from the earth to climb up the bark on the trunks of the trees where they slip out from the backs of their brittle brown bodies.
Tātarakihi are the offspring of Tūteāhuru and Hinepeke, who are the parents of all insects, vermin and lizards. Tātarakihi are known as the birds of Rēhua (Antares).
