Dogwood Spittlebug

Four spittlebugs and a visitor sipping latte - REK

Walking the lane, I noticed tiny globs of white froth on the petioles of gray dogwood leaves.  This time of year we see lots of spittle bugs on grasses and soft bodied plants but I had never seen them on woody species.  Googling "dogwood spittlebug" I immediately came up with the cleverly named ........ dogwood spittlebug, Clastoptera proteus.

Wiped clean - REK

We wrote about spittlebugs in a 2015 blog, describing their sucking up dilute plant xylem and converting it to a viscous bubble solution to cover their bodies.  On most grasses and field plants they hang upside down to let gravity do the work of covering them up.  I usually find them singly on a plant, but several of these C. proteus were clustered together along a petiole.

Larva on the left still in foam - REK

Spittlebugs are the nymphs of order Hemiptera (true bugs) in the superfamily Cercopoidea (Spittlebugs).  There are more than 300 genera and 3,000 distinct species.  In addition to the common findings in our fields, there are specialists species that live on pine, alder, and of course dogwood.  All will turn into froghoppers when they grow up.  The adults are more colorful, dare I say cute, but are harder to find.

Froghoppers get their name for the frog-like facial features.  They are world class hoppers with some able to jump 28 inches vertically, higher per body weight than even fleas.  This is 100 times their length - think of you jumping 600 feet from a standing start!  physorg.com  With that tremendous acceleration they would be challenged to avoid slipping on a smooth leaf.  They overcome this by a special adaptation.

"When accelerating for jumps, froghoppers produce traction by piercing plant surfaces with sharp metal-enriched spines on their hind legs, deforming the cuticle plastically and leaving behind microscopic holes, like a biological nanoindenter. This mechanism depends on the substrate’s hardness, and requires special adaptations of the cuticle at the spine tips."  PNAS

The minuscule nymphs need to be wiped before you can photograph them.  Even then you can see them flipping their nozzle around in this video, trying to get their bubble machine started like a tiny Lawrence Welk.

 C. proteus adult, note wings - Claude Pilon

Like grasshoppers, their body shape resembles their parents although they are not exactly "spitting images."  They develop wings and fertility only when they reach adulthood in the 5th instar.   All resemble leafhoppers and most are colorful.  They measure about 1/3 inch long with wings tented over the body in a V shape. Adults feed on a range of host plants, including ornamental perennials.

Most sources point out that spittlebugs do not cause serious damage to plants.  Their pest status depends on where you live.  Along Bull Creek we have hundreds of dogwoods and I have found only 2 trees with a few spittlebugs.  On the other hand if you were in the city and it was a lone dogwood hybrid in your yard, it might warrant treatment.

If you were patient enough to get this far, here is your reward.  Ant Lab has this slow motion video of hoppers hopping.  If you still need more, check out this froghopper gallery from around the world.  Enjoy!