NATURAL VIEW:Secretive spittlebugs come out for spring

About a year ago, I noticed small clumps of white bubbles attached to the green stems of California sagebrush (Artemisia californica) on the coastal bluffs in La Jolla. This year, in Riverside, the ornamental rosemary bushes on the UC campus and in town sport the same white masses.

Many years ago, someone thought the clumps of bubbles looked like spittle. The developing insects inside the bubbles then became known as spittlebugs.

Spittlebugs are sucking insects, related to leafhoppers, aphids and scale bugs. The adults are wedge-shaped, something like tiny frogs, and are also called froghoppers. They’re dark brown, may have two orange stripes across their back, and have powerful rear legs.

Relative to their size, adult spittlebugs are the highest jumping organisms on Earth. English scientists with high-speed cameras filmed them jumping 100 centimeters (about 2 feet) from a standing start. That’s four times higher than the previous record-holder, the flea. Human high jumpers don’t even come close.

In contrast, the larvae are sedentary. In early spring, spittlebug eggs hatch into small, immature larvae. Each larva crawls around, then attaches itself by way of a sharp, straw-like appendage to a tender green plant stem and proceeds to suck out the sap. A lot of sap.

Using the excess plant juice, the larva then creates a frothy mass of bubbles around itself for protection from desiccation, predators and extreme temperatures. It’s not exactly camouflage because the spittle shows clearly against the dark green of the plant. However, predators like birds can’t see the larva inside the bubbles and may leave it alone. Contrary to the name, however, the larva doesn’t spit or blow the bubbles.

There’s just no polite way to explain this: it’s more like passing gas into a thick solution of starch. The carbohydrates (starches) stabilize the resulting bubbles.

A mass of spittle often contains more than one larva. When they’re all pumping out sap at the same time, they can damage the plant.

The larva, also called a nymph, goes through five developmental stages as it outgrows its outer carapace, sheds it and grows a new one. Each of the five nymphs is larger and looks more like the adult.

In our semi-arid environment, it’s not surprising that another local insect has a similar protective strategy. The Cochineal bug, a type of scale insect, is found on succulent cactus pads. In this species, the sedentary stage is the adult. The female hides under a bright white protective cottony-appearing mass that appears on a cactus pad.

Make your own discoveries! Visit a local wilderness park, walk quietly, and look around. Or take a guided tour with a volunteer naturalist at Laguna Coast Wilderness Park.