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Harebell with froghopper froth

 

 

Your Midsummer flowers should be nine. No problem finding them this year, flowering plants are everywhere.

 

Such a "spit gob“ only the nymph of the meadow froghopper or spittlebug manages to create as protection for itself in a moist meadow. It is a rather helpless creature, about 5 millimetres long, with a soft, yellowish-green body. It presses its strong sucking "snout“ into the plant stem, pointed towards the ground, to get at the sap, and along the body of the larva a digested exudate, rich in sugars, dribbles out. The larva generates a froth by pumping air into it from the breathing orifices on its belly. About Midsummer they become adult insects.

 

An ingenious defense against enemies – whoever will want to handle spit?

 

The common froghopper is a relative of the cicadas. The colour of the adult insect varies from pale yellow to almost black, but we don’t often see them. The wary creatures let nobody come close to them. They have wings for flying, strong hind legs for jumping. For noticing threats the froghopper has two compound eyes in addition to the two regular eyes.

 

In September the froghopper lays its yellow, orange-tipped eggs on plant stems. In spring when the weather has turned warm everything is repeated again as described above.

 

Photo from Wikipedia:

Froghopper imago