Guardian Nature School Team Contact Blog Project Noah Facebook Project Noah Twitter

A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife

Join Project Noah!
nature school apple icon

Project Noah Nature School visit nature school

Spittlebug

Species ID Suggestions



Sign in to suggest organism ID

5 Comments

KarenL
KarenL 12 years ago

Nice spot!
You could ad this to the Animal Architecture & Signs of Wildlife missions!

CindyBinghamKeiser
CindyBinghamKeiser 12 years ago

That would be scary! Lucky for you, it's just a little bug :)

Jacob Gorneau
Jacob Gorneau 12 years ago

Interesting: I have seen these at my house before, but thought they were just weird plants. In fact, I thought it was rabies left behind from an animal. :) haha

CindyBinghamKeiser
CindyBinghamKeiser 12 years ago

Hi jgorneau, not it's not. Here's a quote from Wikipedia: "The froth serves a number of purposes. It hides the nymph from the view of predators and parasites, it insulates against heat and cold, thus providing thermal control and also moisture control. Without the froth the bug would quickly dry up. The nymphs pierce plants and suck sap causing damage, and much of the excess filtered fluids go into the production of the froth, which has an acrid taste, deterring predators."

Jacob Gorneau
Jacob Gorneau 12 years ago

Is the "spit" poisonous?

armsequest
Spotted by
armsequest

Massachusetts, USA

Spotted on Jun 1, 2011
Submitted on Feb 2, 2012

Related Spottings

Spittlebug spittlebug Spittlebug Two-lined Spittlebug

Nearby Spottings

Mock Oyster Lady Beetle Fly Agaric Northern Blueberry
Noah Guardians
Noah Sponsors
join Project Noah Team

Join the Project Noah Team