Hitchings family mayflies collecting
When Terry Hitchings retired from a career in education, he turned his attention to the collection and study of mayflies.
In the 30 years since, he's been collecting and documenting species of mayflies in New Zealand waters - creating a valuable database housed at Canterbury Museum for researchers studying conservation and environmental change.
His son Tim is also involved, along with his son Richard.
The three generations of Hitchings have collected nearly 50,000 mayflies. Terry and Tim have both become Canterbury Museum Research Associates and the pair have co-authored a number of research papers.
They've also discovered 15 previously unknown mayfly species.
The images in this gallery are used with permission and are subject to copyright conditions.
