SPITTLE BUGS

        The term spittlebug applies to a group of sap sucking insects whose immature stages cover themselves with frothy saliva like masses composed of air bubbles trapped in fluids discharged from the alimentary canal and special epidermal glands.  The spittle mass protects the nymphs.  There may be from one to several nymphs per spittle mass.  Only nymphs produce spittle.  Adults are usually inconspicuous and usually brownish; they readily jump or fly when disturbed.  It is not uncommon for adults to feed on one plant group, for example, trees, and nymphs to feed on another, say grasses.  Most species have one generation per year and winter as eggs under or in the bark of shoots or twigs.  They are related to the cicadas and leafhoppers.

Plant damage results from excessive extraction of plant juices by nymphs in order to maintain the protective spittle masses, from excessive extraction of sap by adults to meet their food requirement, from injection of toxic substances while feeding, from transmission of viruses or mycoplasmas like organisms, and from feeding punctures that may provide points of entry for other pathogens.  Plants respond with loss of thriftiness and with wilted, stunted, distorted, and discolored foliage; necrotic spots on leaves may also appear.