''Philaenus spumarius'', the meadow froghopper or meadow spittlebug, is a species of insect belonging to the spittlebug family Aphrophoridae. In

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, it is economically important as one of the

vector Vector most often refers to: * Euclidean vector, a quantity with a magnitude and a direction * Disease vector, an agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organism Vector may also refer to: Mathematics a ...

s of Pierce's disease ('' Xylella fastidiosa'').

Etymology

The genus name ''Philaenus'' comes from the Greek ''philein'' ("love"), while the species name ''spumarius'' is from the Latin ''spuma'' ("sparkling"), referring to the foam nests; the binomial ''Philaenus spumarius'' can be translated as "foam lover."

Varietas

Varietas within this species include: *''Philaenus spumarius var. populellus'' *''Philaenus spumarius var. vittatus'' *''Philaenus spumarius var. lateralis'' *''Philaenus spumarius var. fasciatus'' *''Philaenus spumarius var. gibbus''

Distribution

''Philaenus spumarius'' is quite common and widespread. The species' original distribution was restricted to the

Palearctic realm The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The ...

. They are present in most of

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, in

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

, in part of

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

, and in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. They have also been introduced in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. This is a very eurytopic species, meaning that it can tolerate a wide range of environmental factors and exist in many different habitats (parks, meadows, gardens, etc.). It lives in almost all open land habitats and in open forests. It is absent only in very wet and very dry habitats.

Identification

The species reaches a body length of . Most females are slightly larger than males. In these polymorphic insects, the coloration of the body is very variable (about 20 different colors are known).Selcuk Yurtseve
On the Polymorphic Meadow Spittlebug, Philaenus spumarius (L.) (Homoptera: Cercopidae)
/ref> Usually, they are yellowish, brownish, or black, with brighter patches on a dark background, but also with dark markings on a lighter background.

Locomotion

The most common modes of locomotion are running and flying, but the most striking is their strong jumping ability, which is useful for escaping from predators. When jumping, the hind leg tarsal spines and spine hairs are embedded into the material the animal is jumping from, typically a plant, and provide the purchase needed for a lateral jump - confirmed with scanning electron micrographs. X-ray spectroscopy revealed that the darker coloured sclerotized tips of the spines, the last 6/100ths of a millimetre or so, contain zinc.

Life cycle

The seasonal nature, the

phenology Phenology is the study of periodic events in biological life cycles and how these are influenced by seasonal and interannual variations in climate, as well as habitat factors (such as elevation). Examples include the date of emergence of leav ...

, of the species' life cycle varies because of the wide range of climatic conditions it can tolerate, but remains similar. In a

temperate climate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of the Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ra ...

, the females lay eggs at the end of the summer. The eggs are laid singly or in groups (1 to 30, average 7) on the food plants of the larvae. Egg-laying is triggered by a single female, which can produce up to 350–400 eggs. In unfavorable climatic periods, froghoppers can survive in the form of eggs. Eggs are approximately 1 mm long and 0.3 mm wide. They are white with an orange spot, which becomes darker and larger if the egg is fertilised. The larvae, also called nymphs, hatch after about 20 days and develop through five stages, known as

instar An instar (, from the Latin '' īnstar'' 'form, likeness') is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, which occurs between each moult (''ecdysis'') until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to ...

s. The larvae are well known for the self-generated foam nests which can be observed during spring in meadows (especially on cuckoo flowers, '' Cardamine pratensis'', and broom, '' Genista'', species). The larvae in the foam nests are largely protected from predators and also get the necessary moisture for the appropriate development and temperature, so their mortality remains low even in bad weather. The larval stage lasts about 50 days. The adults leave the foam nest only when it is completely dried. This takes about ten days. The females mate soon after. Froghoppers are

polyphagous Feeding is the process by which organisms, typically animals, obtain food. Terminology often uses either the suffixes -vore, -vory, or -vorous from Latin ''vorare'', meaning "to devour", or -phage, -phagy, or -phagous from Greek φαγε ...

, their host plant specificity is low, so that they can feed on a variety of plants, mainly grasses (

Poaceae Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivate ...

species), reed plants (

Juncaceae Juncaceae is a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the rush family. It consists of 8 genera and about 464 known species of slow-growing, rhizomatous, herbaceous monocotyledonous plants that may superficially resemble grasses and ...

species), herbs and sometimes trees (including the olive tree, where the species has been identified as spreading '' Xylella fastidiosa'', the bacterium associated with Olive quick decline syndrome). They have been identified on over 170 host plants.

Gallery

Philaenus spumarius 13.jpg, Mating Aprophoridae - Philaenus spumarius foam nest.JPG, Foam nest Larve Philaenus spumarius.jpg, An adult, newly emerged from its foam nest Philaenusspumarius1.jpg, Adult Aphrophoridae - Philaenus spumarius-000.JPG, A different colour form

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1550927 Aphrophoridae Insects described in 1758 Hemiptera of Europe Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Insect vectors of plant pathogens