Cedar Creek
Ecosystem Science Reserve
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Insects of Cedar Creek
Order HOMOPTERA
Family CERCOPIDAE
(Spittle Bugs)
The presence of Spittlebugs (54 NA spp) is most apparent by the
spittle masses produced by the nymphs on their host plants.
Philaenus
spumarius is an abundant polymorphic species found in fields,
marshes, and swamps on a variety of forbs.
Philaenarcys
bilineata is a very common spittlebug of prairie fields containing
little bluestem--and I suspect this is the host.
Paraphilaenus
parallelus is an uncommon species found on sedges in boggy
situations. The last two mentioned species were formerly in the genus
Philaenus
(Hamilton, 1979).
Two species of
Lepyronia
have been collected at CCESR.
L. gibbosa is commonly associated
with
P. bilineata in prairie habitat where it feeds on woody plants
(eg.
Rosa, Rubus, Populus, Ceanothus, Corylus).
L. quadrangularis
is a common marsh inhabiting species.
The genus
Clastoptera
is represented by three species:
C. saintcyri (leatherleaf)
in bogs,
C. proteus (dogwood) and
C. obtusa
(alder) in woodland and swamps.
The genus
Aphrophora
is represented by three species:
A. cribrata (formerly parallela)
feeds on white pine both as nymph and adult.
A. saratogensis
adults are found on white and red pine, but nymphs feed on herbaceous understory
plants.
A. parallela is a new addition to Cedar Creek.
It is a small dark species collected by Vinton Thompson in the sphagnum
mat area bordering Beckman Lake during his visit here in early July 2000.
According to Hamilton, the name
parallela was originally applied
to this species.
I thank Dr. Vinton Thompson (Roosevelt Univ., Chicago) for providing
me with life history information, literature, and specimens of this family.
Hamilton, (19xx). The Cercopidae of Canada
and Alaska???
Hanna, M. (1970). An annotated list of the spittlebugs of michigan
(Homoptera: Cercopidae). Michigan Entomologist 3:2-16
Hanna, M and TE Moore (1966). The spittlebugs of Michigan (Homoptera:
Cercopidae). Papers of Mich Academy of Science, Arts, and Letters
51:39-73.