Frog-hopper by dochtersions
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Description
Hi friends,
This is a yesterday-shot.
I myself was very surprised, it came out this way,
with the drop below.
It is only 1 cm,
and it hung hidden under a leaf,
very close to the ground.
So I had to maneuver a bit much ;D.
Latin name: Philaenus spumarius (Cercopidae)
Dutch name : schuimcicade.
In other languages: "couldn't find" ;-)
For if you are interested, some more info:
The frog-hopper is a noxious insect, to various plants.
The imago or grown-up stage is a tiny hopper, suddenly jumping up from a plant when disturbed. Something like a small cricket, but rounder, more compact; oval-shaped, yet a bit angular, and about 0.5 cm long, in most cases light-brown, but sometimes of a different color.
The real damage is caused by the "nymph", the juvenile stage, sucking plant-juice and hiding itself in a liquid excreted by the anus and pumped up to foam with the air breathed out by the insect. So you see on several plants, especially in a wet spring, lots of these dirty-looking bits of "saliva", mostly in leaf-axils but also under leaves and on stems. Soon afterwards ugly distortions occur - curled-up leaves and crooked plant-parts.
Controlling is difficult, the foam protects the insects effectively; best seems to overcome your disgust and grab into the bits of foam to deal with the pest manually. Once your fingers touch the hiding-place, the grassgreen or brown-red dweller will start to run and try to disappear along a stem. Just catch the insect, and splash it between your fingers - it saves you at least one distorted shoot on your plant.
I read more than once that the damage these insects do is only minimal - possibly because there never really are hundreds on a plant at a time. But in my experience the malformations certainly can't be ignored. Plants having been molested like this, won't flower well either, it takes quite a time before the deformed shoots recover, and form flowerbuds again. Severely attacked plantparts best can be cut off to induce new healthy growth.
As an example (only to show the pest, not yet the effect) you see a fuchsia here, 'Phyllis', a strong plant but a favourite of this insect - not all fuchsias are equally popular with it. On the left the animal is ± 5 x enlarged.
Because of my painful eyes, I didn't read all this info myself, but most of the things I already knew (am I clever :P, LOL)
Bye everyone, and thank you for visiting and probably comment.
Here it's still 'hot'(the weather), and there have been wood-fires in the neighborhood.
Love to you,
Mies.
Comments (30)
Juliette.Gribnau
aha..het schuimbeestje ( althans dat gaat het worden !) mooi scherpe foto
durleybeachbum
Fascinating, and a most interesting 'drop'!
lyron
Beautiful image!!
CarolSassy
Yeah, I dislike destructive bugs. They are the reason that most of my plants are lucky to be alive. lol q-: Great close-up! (:
geoffwoods
Hey jacomina what a great close up, ah the life of a photographer crawling around the ground anything for a photo. Well done my beautiful friend.
gaius
What an exceptional close up capture...and thanks for the tips.
clbsmiley
What a beautiful capture of an unwanted thing. Rolling around in the garden are we ?
greyone
Gorgeous capture Mies! I never saw these bugs before, but they might be here. I love how crisp your shot is here.
magnus073
This is a wonderful macro capture Mies, very nice work
flavia49
wonderful macro
Faemike55
Very cool shot and fascinating information
helanker
WOOOOWW!!! That is indeed a fabulous Macro Mies. Just a shot I would have loved to take. Well done. I am so sorry you have such pains in your eyes. I do hope it will go away very soon.
Bossie_Boots
This looks amazing thank you for sharing and the info superb work !!
annie5
Great find..excellent shot Mies! :)
jayfar
Super shot and info Mies, you have captured it well.
kbrog
Excellent macro and info! :)
farmerC
Schitterend macrowerk.
sandra46
what a precious shot!
cricke49
fantastic photo capture, never heard of such a thing! thanx for the history on it!:)*5
Glendaw
Great capture of a plant gnat. So sad such a bug can survive to destroy such beautiful flowers and plants.. The dew drop is totally awesome. Great capture Mies. A big Hi to you and Karel and wishing you both a good day..
npauling
A wonderful capture and how very clever to get the drop of water in just the right place. Very well spotted and photographed with super clarity.
jocko500
wow never saw these. wonderful image
MrsLubner
fabulous information. Great shot.
rbowen
Very good capture!
wannes
Interessante info, mooie foto... knap!
flora-crassella
interesting image! FANTASTIC photo!!!!!!!
mgtcs
Spectacular image, very delicate, loved it!
blondeblurr
Thanks for all the info Jacomina, I didn't know it all and guess what? we have similar 'spitters' here also, mainly on our Pine trees, they ring-bark some branches and then they just drop off - YIKES ... interesting macro, take care - try to get some sleep Miesje, please! BB
carlx
Superb close-up!!!
alanwilliams
the shot and the information are first class, you have turned this plant into a work of art