recently we were wandering through the woods near
a swampy area, where we saw a small plant with some
white foam around axles of its leaves.
My friends were speculating that the foam might be
snail eggs. I am suspicious, but have no clue. Any
biologists, or rather botanists, out there?
It sounds like Cuckoo Spit (which has nothing to do with cuckoos, it just appears in the springtime at about the time that cuckoo calls are first heard) is a foamy protective environment that froghopper (a type of insect, not a frog) nymphs make.
I would also like to mention that we are talking
Denmark here. I wonder if the old froghopper
also lives here. Maybe a cousin of his.
I’m in the UK and we have them here (although the link that I gave above was to an Australian site - it just happened to be the first one I found describing them), so I would think it’s the same thing; I suspect the little buggers are everywhere.
You can confirm it’s Cuckoo Spit by poking around in the bubbles with a twig; if it is, you’ll find a little pale green bug about 3-4mm long.
yep - here in the u.s. we usually refer to that type of bug a spittlebug (usually order homoptera). There are several species and the larvae produce the exudate that looks like spit.
okay thank so very much, another thing learned.
Homoptera, cool name, “same wing” or what? H
There was a MPSIMS thread about this just recently, complete with pictures. Check it out, see if what you’re seeing is similar.