Tuesday 21 May
In the News: First crane egg in the western UK in four centuries
Common froghopper (Philaenus spumarius)
What’s the World’s Favourite Species?
Find out here.Common froghopper fact file
- Description
- Biology
- Range
- Habitat
- Status
- Threats
- Conservation
- Find out more
- Glossary
- References
- Print factsheet
Common froghopper description
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum | Arthropoda |
| Class | Insecta |
| Order | Hemiptera |
| Family | Cercopdiae |
| Genus | Philaenus (1) |
This small, common froghopper is variably patterned with brown, black and white (1). The wings are held like a tent over the body (2). It has recently been discovered that this froghopper is the champion jumper of the animal kingdom, able to jump 70 cm into the air. This is a greater height than the flea, yet the froghopper is much heavier, so it has the most impressive jumping style. The back legs used in jumping are so well-developed in this species that they trail behind it when it walks around. The jump is so powerful that in the initial stages a G-force of over 400 gravities is generated. This is truly phenomenal considering that an astronaut rocketing out into orbit experiences G-forces of 5-gravities (3). Young froghoppers, known as nymphs, develop in frothy clumps that are popularly known as cuckoospit (1). Like all bugs (Hemiptera), the froghopper has specialised sucking mouthparts, which in this species are used to feed on plant sap (4).
- Also known as
- cuckoo spit, spittlebug.
- Size
- Length: 5.3-6.9 mm (1)
- Larval
- The stage in an animal’s lifecycle after it hatches from the egg. Larvae are typically very different in appearance to adults; they are able to feed and move around but usually are unable to reproduce.
- Nymphs
- Stage of insect development, similar in appearance to the adult but sexually immature and without wings. The adult form is reached via a series of moults and the wings develop externally as the nymph grows.
-
National Biodiversity Network Species Dictionary (January2004):
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nbn -
RSPB (February 2004):
http://www.rspb.org.uk/gardens/guide/atoz/f/froghopper.asp -
Amos, J. Garden insect is Jump Champion- BBC News Online (February 2004):
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3110719.stm -
Martin. J. Hemiptera
It’s a Bug’s Life (February 2004):
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/entomology/features/bugs/bugs.html - view the contents of, and Material on, the website;
- download and retain copies of the Material on their personal systems in digital form in low resolution for their own personal use;
- teachers, lecturers and students may incorporate the Material in their educational material (including, but not limited to, their lesson plans, presentations, worksheets and projects) in hard copy and digital format for use within a registered educational establishment, provided that the integrity of the Material is maintained and that copyright ownership and authorship is appropriately acknowledged by the End User.
More »
Top
Related species
Common froghopper biology
Adults and nymphs are present between June and September (2). As with most bugs, individuals mate ‘back to back’ (4). All bugs have a type of insect development known as ‘hemimetabolous development’ in which there is no larval stage but a number of wingless nymphs instead which resemble the adult form (4). The nymphs of this species are protected by their covering of froth, which they create by blowing air into a fluid excreted from their anus. They feed on plant tissues below this protective covering, which also prevents them from drying out (2).
TopCommon froghopper range
Common throughout Britain (1).
More »
Species with a similar range
|
You can view distribution information for this species at the National Biodiversity Network Gateway. |
Common froghopper habitat
Found in a wide range of habitats including parks, meadows and gardens on a variety of plants (1) (2).
More »
Top
Species found in a similar habitat
Common froghopper status
Not threatened (2).
TopCommon froghopper threats
This species is not threatened (2).
TopCommon froghopper conservation
Conservation action is not required for this common species.
|
|
There may be further information about this species available via the National Biodiversity Network Gateway. |
Find out more
For more on bugs see the Natural History Museum website:
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/life/insects-spiders/index.html
For more on invertebrates, their conservation and details of how to get involved see Buglife, the invertebrate conservation trust:
http://www.buglife.org.uk
Authentication
This information is awaiting authentication by a species expert, and will be updated as soon as possible. If you are able to help please contact:
arkive@wildscreen.org.uk
Glossary
References
More »Related species
Sign up to our newsletter
Get the latest wild news direct to your inbox.
Get involved
ARKive relies on its media donors to donate photos and videos. Can you help? There are plenty of other ways you can get involved too!
X
Close
Close
Link to this photo
Embed this ARKive thumbnail link by copying and pasting the code below.
Terms of Use - The displayed thumbnail may be used as a link from your website to ARKive's online content for private, scientific, conservation or educational purposes only. It may NOT be used within Apps.
Read more about
X
Close
Close
MyARKive
MyARKive offers the scrapbook feature to signed-up members, allowing you to organize your favourite ARKive images and videos and share them with friends.
X
Close
Close
Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials
Copyright in this website and materials contained on this website (Material) belongs to Wildscreen or its licensors.
Visitors to this website (End Users) are entitled to:
End Users shall not copy or otherwise extract, alter or manipulate Material other than as permitted in these Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials.
Additional use of flagged material
Green flagged material 
Certain Material on this website (Licence 4 Material) displays a green flag next to the Material and is available for not-for-profit conservation or educational use. This material may be used by End Users, who are individuals or organisations that are in our opinion not-for-profit, for their not-for-profit conservation or not-for-profit educational purposes. Low resolution, watermarked images may be copied from this website by such End Users for such purposes. If you require high resolution or non-watermarked versions of the Material, please contact Wildscreen with details of your proposed use.
Creative commons material
Certain Material on this website has been licensed to Wildscreen under a Creative Commons Licence. These images are clearly marked with the Creative Commons buttons and may be used by End Users only in the way allowed by the specific Creative Commons Licence under which they have been submitted. Please see http://creativecommons.org for details.
Any other use
Please contact the copyright owners directly (copyright and contact details are shown for each media item) to negotiate terms and conditions for any use of Material other than those expressly permitted above. Please note that many of the contributors to ARKive are commercial operators and may request a fee for such use.
Save as permitted above, no person or organisation is permitted to incorporate any copyright material from this website into any other work or publication in any format (this includes but is not limited to: websites, Apps, CDs, DVDs, intranets, extranets, signage, digital communications or on printed materials for external or other distribution). Use of the Material for promotional, administrative or for-profit purposes is not permitted.