Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
 

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Calendar

Upcoming Events

National Moth Week was July 19-27, and the Summer 2025 gathering in Louisiana, July 19-27

Photos of insects and people from the 2024 BugGuide gathering in Idaho July 24-27

Moth submissions from National Moth Week 2024

Photos of insects and people from the 2022 BugGuide gathering in New Mexico, July 20-24

Photos of insects and people from the Spring 2021 gathering in Louisiana, April 28-May 2

Photos of insects and people from the 2019 gathering in Louisiana, July 25-27

Family Aphrophoridae

Representative Images

ID Please - Philaenus spumarius Brown Leaf Hopper - Philaenus spumarius Resembles Aphrophora nymph - Aphrophora spittlebug - Lepyronia coleoptrata foam nest on cypress spurge, meadow spittlebug - Philaenus spumarius March-0BG.J.2010.05 - Lepyronia quadrangularis Aphrophoridae - Aphrophora alni Lepyronia gibbosa

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Hemiptera (True Bugs, Cicadas, Hoppers, Aphids and Allies)
Suborder Auchenorrhyncha (True Hoppers)
Infraorder Cicadomorpha (Cicadas, Spittlebugs, Leafhoppers, and Treehoppers)
Superfamily Cercopoidea (Spittlebugs)
Family Aphrophoridae

Explanation of Names

Aphrophoridae Amyot & Serville 1843
Spittlebug: nymphs surround themselves with a frothy mass that resembles spittle

Numbers

~30 spp. in 7 genera in our area,> ~930 spp. in ~160 genera total(1); genus not yet in the guide: Paraphilaenus Vilbaste 1962, P. parallelus (Stearns 1918) ON-WI-?IL
annotated checklist of QC spp.(2)

Identification

Key to genera and most spp. in(3)

Range

worldwide

Life Cycle

After the nymph molts for the final time, the resulting adult insect leaves the mass of "spittle" and moves about actively. The "spittle" is derived from a fluid voided from the anus and from a mucilaginous substance excreted by epidermal glands. Nymphs wander away from their spittle masses, and either start new ones, or enter those of other nymphs. Aphrophora nymphs hold the record, of one spittle mass over a foot long containing about 100 individuals! --A.K.G. Hamilton

Works Cited

1.Soulier-Perkins A. (2007-) Cercopoidea organised on line
2.Pilon et al. (1988‒2015) Entomofaune du Québec
3.The Spittlebugs of Canada. Homoptera: Cercopidae
Hamilton, K.G.A. 1982.
Contributed by Troy Bartlett on 16 February, 2004 - 12:32pm
Additional contributions by Stephen_WV, Beatriz Moisset, Robin McLeod, v belov, antarctica
Last updated 8 February, 2025 - 2:33am

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