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Superfamily Cercopoidea - Spittlebugs

Representative Images

hopper - Philaenarcys bilineata Hopper of some sort... - Aphrophora cribrata Spittlebug - Lepyronia quadrangularis Very small beetle (Bark?) - Clastoptera obtusa Clastoptera testacea Clastoptera Aphrophora? - Aphrophora Clastopterid - Clastoptera lineatocollis

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)

Numbers

~70 spp. in 9 genera of 3 families in our area, ~2,600 spp. in >360 genera of 5 extant families worldwide(1)
Aphrophoridae Amyot & Audinet-Serville, 1843
Clastopteridae Stål, 1858
Ischnorhinidae Schmidt, 1920
extralimital families
Cercopidae Leach, 1815
Machaerotidae Stål, 1866

Identification

one or two stout spines on the hind tibiae, and a circlet of spines at the apex

Range

worldwide, much more diverse in the tropics(2)

Food

Has a symbiotic relationship with Zinderia insecticola, a B-proteobacteria, that assist in providing the insect with sufficient amino acids.(3)

Remarks

Ischnorhininae recently split from Cercopidae and treated as its own family, Ischnorhinidae. Cercopidae s.s. is no longer considered to occur in the Americas.(4)

See Also

Cicadellidae (Leafhoppers) have 1-2 rows of spines on the hind tibiae (none in spittlebugs)

Works Cited

1.Soulier-Perkins A. (2007-) Cercopoidea organised on line
2.The Spittlebugs of Canada. Homoptera: Cercopidae
Hamilton, K.G.A. 1982.
3.The Insects : Structure and Function
R. F. Chapman. 1998. Cambridge University Press.
4.Molecular phylogeny of Cercopidae (Hemiptera, Cercopoidea)
Crispolon Jr, E. S., Soulier‐Perkins, A., & Guilbert, E. 2023. Zoologica Scripta.
Contributed by Charley Eiseman on 19 January, 2014 - 12:13pm
Additional contributions by v belov, Marci Hess, antarctica
Last updated 9 February, 2025 - 12:19pm

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