Blowing Bubbles

Prepare to be amazed!

Froghoppers, so called because facially they look like frogs, can leap 70cm in the air vertically with an acceleration of 4,000m/s2 and 400gs of acceleration. Put into perspective - better pound for pound than the jump of a flea and more forceful than an astronaut going into space! Some bug!

This little blighter, about 4mm long, a garden pest, has made itself at home on one of my globe thistles - echinops ritro where I can now see a few!

You normally wouldn't see a froghopper just a mass of bubbles encasing it on the stem of a plant. This cuckoo spit so called because it was thought to come from cuckoos is created by a valve in it's abdomen which pushes air bubbles out to mix with the sticky secretion from it's rear end. Here you can clearly see the bubble it has made.

The sticky secretion comes from the converted sap from the host plant which it pierces to suck up. The nymphs are consequently called 'spittlebugs'.
The spit is thought to offer protection from predators: to hide them, to insulate from the heat and cold and consequently also for moisture control. Odd it's called spit really as it comes from completely the opposite end :))

A MASSIVE BIG thank you to everyone who dropped by my journal yesterday for my blip birthday and generously left comments, hearts and stars - I am trying to get back to everyone but have got a way to go yet. Totally totally thrilled! What a lovely community blip is!!!! :))