I became interested in insects, and cicadas in particular, as a small child growing up in New Plymouth, New Zealand. There the cicadas are common and noisy and easy to play with, and I learnt to tell all the species around me by their songs. I studied for a BSc in entomology at Lincoln University, Lincoln, Canterbury, New Zealand, and during my final year was fortunate to meet my current employer, Dr Chris Simon (Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, USA), who had been studying cicadas in New Zealand, Australia and North America for many years. I did an MSc studying the phylogeography of a New Zealand cicada, Maoricicada campbelli, at Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand under Chris Simon and Dr Geoffrey K. Chambers (School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington). Since then I have been working at the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology department of the University of Connecticut, in the lab of Chris Simon, where I am studying phylogenetic and phylogeographic relationships of worldwide groups of cicadas. I work in a molecular lab sequencing specimens, in the field collecting, recording and observing, and under a microscope identifying and describing new species.

I am particularly interested in three aspects of cicada biology - their evolutionary relationships, their communication systems and describing new species. Cicadas are found worldwide in temperate to tropical ecozones, and are well-known insects. However their higher taxonomy is often poorly understood, and our new molecular work is leading to new understandings of many tribal boundaries. An NSF grant to Dr Chris Simon, of which I am a collaborator, has just been awarded to study the molecular relationships of the family Cicadidae, extending the scope of previous grants that I have collaborated on studying New Zealand cicadas and the worldwide tribe Cicadettini.

I am very interested in cicada communication. Together with my husband David Marshall (Postdoctoral researcher, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut), we have recorded the sounds of hundreds of species of cicadas including species from Australia, New Zealand, the United States, China, South Africa, Fiji, Argentina and the Philippines. We are very fortunate in that the opportunity to collect cicadas in many countries has given us a worldwide perspective on cicada songs and communication. Our understanding of the duetting pair-formation system in some cicadas led to the discovery of the first acoustic aggressive mimic ever found - a large predaceous katydid in Australia (Chlorobalius leucoviridis) that clicks back to male cicadas in order to attract them and eat them. I have also worked on aspects of the communication system of the unique Periodical Cicadas (Magicicada spp.) of North America, along with collaborators David Marshall and John Cooley (Ohio State University), who discovered the 7^th species of this complex and worked out much about their singing and courtship behaviour.

There are many undescribed species of cicadas worldwide. In Australia especially, there remain hundreds of species currently unknown to science, sometimes morphologically cryptic but with unique songs. Along with collaborators such as Dr. Max Moulds (Australian Museum, retired), Dr Allen Sanborn (Department of Biology, Barry University, Florida), Dr Young June Lee (Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut) and David Marshall, I am interested in describing some of these species, including publishing their songs.

Systematics In collaboration with Chris Simon, David Marshall and others, I am currently obtaining molecular data for projects on the phylogeny of Cicadidae, the genera Kobonga, Gudanga and Tibicen, and the Tribe Cicadettini.   Publications: Hill KBR, Marshall DC, Moulds MS, Simon C. 2015. Molecular phylogenetics, diversification, and systematics of Tibicen Latreille 1825 and allied cicadas of the tribe Cryptotympanini, with three new genera and emphasis on species from the USA and Canada (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha: Cicadidae). Zootaxa 3985: 219-251. Lee YJ, Hill KBR. 2010. Systematic revision of the genus Psithyristria Stål (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) with seven new species and a molecular phylogeny of the genus and higher taxa. Systematic Entomology 35: 277-305.   Marshall DC, Slon K, Cooley JR, Hill KBR, Simon C. 2008. Steady Plio-Pleistocene diversification and a 2-Million-Year sympatry threshold in a New Zealand cicada radiation. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 48, 1054–1066.

All publications:

Hill KBR, Marshall DC, Moulds MS, Simon C. 2015. Molecular phylogenetics, diversification, and systematics of Tibicen Latreille 1825 and allied cicadas of the tribe Cryptotympanini, with three new genera and emphasis on species from the USA and Canada (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha: Cicadidae). Zootaxa 3985: 219-251.

Moulds MS, Hill KBR. 2015. Phylogeny for the Tribe Thophini (Cicadoidea: Cicadidae) with the Description of a New Subspecies of Thopha sessiliba Distant from Western Australia. Records of the Australian Museum 67: 55-66.

Marshall DC, Hill KBR, Moulds MS, Vanderpool D, Cooley J, Mohagan A, Simon C. In review. Inflation of molecular clock rates and dates: Biogeography, molecular phylogenetics, and diversification of a global cicada radiation from Australasia (Hemiptera: Cicadidae: Cicadettini). Systematic Biology.

Marshall DC, Hill KBR. 2014. Comments on Tibicina Amyot, 1847 and Lyristes Horvath, 1926 (Insecta, Hemiptera, Homoptera): proposed conservation by the suppression of Tibicen Berthold, 1827 [?Latreille, 1825], and concerning the type species of Cicada Linnaeus, 1758. Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 71: 103-107.

Hill KBR, Marshall DC. 2013. The song, morphology, habitat, and distribution of the elusive North American cicada Okanagana viridis (Auchenorrhyncha: Cicadidae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 106: 598-603.

Hill KBR.  2012. Chorus Cicada, Amphipsalta zelandica (Boisduval), males calling with only wing-clicks. The Weta 43: 15-20.

Marshall DC, Hill KBR, Marske KA, Chambers C, Buckley TR, Simon C. 2012. Limited, episodic diversification and contrasting phylogeography in a New Zealand cicada radiation. BMC Evolutionary Biology 12: 177.

Marshall DC, Hill KBR, Cooley JR, Simon C. 2011. Hybridization, mitochondrial DNA phylogeography, and prediction of the early stages of reproductive isolation: Lessons from New Zealand cicadas (Genus Kikihia). Systematic Biology 60: 482-502.

Cooley J, Kritsky G, Edwards MJ, Zyla JD, Marshall DC, Hill KBR, Bunker G, Neckermann M, Troutman R, Yoshimura J, Simon C. 2011. Periodical cicadas (Magicicada spp.): a GIS-based map of Broods XIV in 2008 and "XV" in 2009. American Entomologist 57: 144-150.

Marshall DC, Cooley JR, Hill KBR. 2011. Developmental plasticity of life-cycle length in thirteen-year periodical cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 104: 443-450.

Lee YJ, Hill KBR. 2010. Systematic revision of the genus Psithyristria Stål (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) with seven new species and a molecular phylogeny of the genus and higher taxa. Systematic Entomology 35: 277-305.

Hill KBR, Marshall DC.  2009.  Confirmation of the cicada Tibicen pronotalis stat. nov. (= T. walkeri, Hemiptera: Cicadidae) in Florida: finding singing insects through their songs.  Zootaxa 2125:63-66

Cooley JR, Kritsky G, Zyla JD, Edwards MJ, Marshall DC, Hill KBR, Krauss R, Simon C.  2009.  The distribution of Periodical Cicada Brood X in 2004.  American Entomologist 55: 106-112

Marshall DC, Hill KBR.  2009.  Versitile aggressive mimicry of cicadas by an Australian predatory katydid.  PLoS One 4: e4185. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0004185.

http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10. 1371/journal.pone.0004185#pone.0004185.s004

Marshall DC, Hill KBR, Fontaine KM, Buckley TR, Simon C.  2009.  Glacial refugia in a maritime temperate climate: Cicada (Kikihia subalpina) mtDNA phylogeography in New Zealand.  Molecular Ecology 18: 1995-2009.

Hill KBR, Simon C, Marshall DC, Chambers GK.  2009.  Surviving glacial ages within the Biotic Gap: phylogeography of the New Zealand cicada Maoricicada campbelli.  Journal of Biogeography 36:675-692.

Marshall DC, Slon K, Cooley JR, Hill KBR, Simon C.  2008.  Steady Plio-Pleistocene diversification and a 2-million year sympatry threshold in a New Zealand cicada radiation.  Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 48: 1054-1066.

Hill KBR, Marshall DC.  2008.  Cicadas (Box spread). In: The Natural History Of Canterbury, M. Winterbourne, G. Knox, C. Burrows and I. Marsden eds. Canterbury University Press, 921pp.

Cooley JR, Marshall  DC, Hill KBR, Simon C.  2006.  Reconstructing asymmetrical reproductive character displacement in a periodical cicada contact zone.  Journal of Evolutionary Biology 19: 855-868.

Hill KBR, Marshall DC, Cooley JR.  2005.  Crossing Cook Strait: Possible human transportation and establishment of two New Zealand cicadas from North Island to South Island (Kikihia scutellaris and K. ochrina, Hemiptera: Cicadidae).  New Zealand Entomologist 28: 71-80.

Hill KBR.  2005.  Phylogeography of Maoricicada campbelli (Hemiptera: Cicadidae): mtDNA evidence interpreted using phylogenetics and nested clade analysis.  MSc Thesis, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand.

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