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Sticker of Meadow froghopper
Bug card No. 0894 of 1,500

Meadow froghopper

Philaenus spumarius
Eats: PlantsTrue bugs and cicadasGardens and meadows6 legs

The meadow froghopper is a tiny bug that jumps like a frog. Its babies are famous for hiding inside blobs of white foam on plants in spring. The grown-ups come in about 20 different colours, from yellow to brown to black.

Lives in
Europe, North Africa, Russia, Afghanistan and Japan, and now North America, in meadows, parks and gardens
Length
5 to 7 mm (0.2 to 0.28 in)
Top speed
about 0.94 km/h (0.58 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless to people. It cannot bite or sting. It can spread a plant disease to olive trees and grapevines, though.
What does it eat?
It sucks juice from plants, mostly grasses and herbs, and sometimes trees. It has been found feeding on more than 1,300 kinds of plants.
For real!Photo of Meadow froghopper
Picture by Didier Descouens. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Meadow froghopper about 7 mm long (0.28 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)
small enough to sit on your fingernailcould run across a dinner table in 3.8 secondsmoves 37 times its own body length every second

How big is Meadow froghopper compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

The baby makes its own foam house, which keeps it wet and hides it from hungry animals.

2

It eats more different kinds of plants than any other insect we know.

3

The tips of the spines on its back legs contain zinc, a kind of metal, which helps it grip when it jumps.

4

A mother can lay up to 400 eggs.

5

The babies live in their foam for about 50 days before they come out as grown-ups.

you asked

Most asked questions about Meadow froghopper

?What is the white foam on plants in spring?

It is a froghopper baby's hiding place. The baby makes the foam itself and lives inside it.

?Is the meadow froghopper harmful?

Not to people. It can spread a disease between plants like olive trees and grapevines.

?How big is the meadow froghopper?

Only about 5 to 7 millimetres long.

Myth buster

Myth: The white foam on plants is spit from cuckoo birds.

Truth: No. People call it cuckoo spit, but it is made by froghopper babies, who blow the bubbles themselves to hide inside.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Philaenus spumarius
Group
True bugs and cicadas
Family
Aphrophoridae
Classification
Insecta > Hemiptera > Aphrophoridae
Lives on
Europe, Africa, Asia, North America
Also known as
Meadow spittlebug

Where the facts come from

  1. Philaenus spumarius (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Didier Descouens. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.

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