[ReBlog] A Soap Foam like bug: Spittlebug

Have always been wondering what this spit thing all around on the bushes, generally near the joint of the branches or leaves. Unable to get an answer (and never realizing about Google'ing it), I stopped taking pictures and perhaps started deleting whatever I had.

SpittleBug - Shot at Matheran in 2010

Then few days back, I came across DesiTraveller's blog post on something called Spittle Bug! Woot! It's something like a larvae secreting some foam (or spitting) around it as a protective cover. To know more about these Cercopidae Family bugs, you should visit here.

[REBLOGed]

Spittlebug: The Soap Foam Bug

A few days ago I wrote about our visit to the Nature farm where they grow organic food and do not use any chemical pesticides. While walking on the farm I noticed a small foam kind of thing on one of the plants.

It was as if somebody was washing clothes and dropped some soapy foam there at best or somebody had spit at worst. As it was just below a wild flower it was looking rather out-of-place. I clicked a few pictures and was wondering what it could be. I remembered something called Foam bug or more scientifically Spittle bugs. They are also called Froghoppers due to the ability to jump many times its length just like a frog.

Spittle bugs leave a trail of soap foam kind of substance

Soon I found more of the same foamy substance on a few more plants. In most cases the foam was near a joint of leaf and branch on the plant. On careful examination it appeared there was an Insect larvae in the foam. I decided to click some more pictures and did some search on Mr. Google. The foam is secreted by the larvae and the adults control the urge to spit all around and behave like good citizens ( Pan and Gutka chewers please learn: even bugs don’t spit around when they grow up)