Foam grasshopper

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Foam grasshopper
Foam leaf hoppers (Neophilaenus lineatus f. Typica)

Foam leaf hoppers ( Neophilaenus lineatus f. Typica )

Systematics
Order : Schnabelkerfe (Hemiptera)
Subordination : Risso cicadas (Cicadomorpha)
Superfamily : Cercopoidea
Family : Foam leaf hoppers (Aphrophoridae)
Genre : Neophilaenus
Type : Foam grasshopper
Scientific name
Neophilaenus lineatus
( Linnaeus , 1758)

Foam leaf hoppers ( Neophilaenus lineatus ) are round head leaf hoppers (Cicadomorpha; Clypeorrhyncha) within the family of leaf hoppers (Aphrophoridae). The distinguishing feature of these insects is that their larvae live in foam nests they have made themselves. This so-called “cuckoo-spit”, also known locally as “witch's spit”, is often found in meadows on grasses and herbs . Another characteristic feature is a mostly dark longitudinal stripe on the hairy edges of the wing cover . This is where the species name "lineatus" comes from . The grass leafhopper is one of the most common leafhoppers in its area of ​​distribution.

Distribution and habitats

The grasshopper plant is widespread in the Holarctic . It occurs in Europe , Asia , North Africa , Asia Minor and North America .

It lives on sweet and sour grasses as well as on rush plants (Juncaceae) in a wide variety of moist to drier grass biotopes . It lives mainly in moors but also in extensively used meadows and pastures , ruderal meadows , salt marshes and coastal dunes . It is widespread from flatlands to mountainous areas up to around 1800  m .

Foam leaf hoppers are possibly a group of bio-species . While the contrastingly colored populations can be found in high grass stands, slimmer, relatively dark forms live in moors and very large, uniformly light forms in dunes.

description

Basic construction plan of the grasshopper.

The grass foam cicada is mostly matt yellowish straw-colored in the basic color. The forewings are finely hairy and leathery. Characteristic are the darker longitudinal stripes, widened at the end, on about two thirds of the forewing margins ( Neophilaenus lineatus f. Typica ). Some populations are uniformly black-brown ( Neophilaenus lineatus f. Aterrima ). Others are dark gray and have a lighter vertical stripe ( Neophilaenus lineatus f. Pulchella ). The scutellum is flat, as is the forehead. The shape of the body is oblong-oval and bluntly rounded. Foam leaf hoppers reach body lengths between 4.6 and 6.8 millimeters, with the females usually being slightly larger than the males and at least 5.4 millimeters tall.

Seen from above, the head of the grasshopper is as broad as the pronotum . The head and pronotum do not have a median keel - in contrast to the species of the genus Aphrophora, such as the alder cicada . The head has two point eyes ( ocelles ), a pair of compound eyes and a pair of short, bristle-shaped antennae . The front plate ( clypeus ) is more or less vaulted in the shape of a bubble when viewed from the front and the side and contains the suction pump. Like all cicadas, foam grass cicadas also have a proboscis for feeding. The lower lip ( labium ) of the animals is designed as a slide for the spikes made up of the mandibles and maxillae . Inside the laciniae (part of the maxilla) there is a channel through which suction can take place, as well as a saliva channel through which saliva is conducted into the feeding site. In all Schnabelkerfen parts of the oral cavity are transformed into a suction pump.

The legs are strong. The feet ( tarsi ) of the foam cicada are tripartite. The rails ( tibia ) of the rear pair of legs are round and relatively short. The rails of the hind legs have two strong thorns and a wreath of thorns ( meron ) at the base. Due to the strong legs, adult grasshopper can jump well in contrast to the sluggish larvae. The mighty thorns on their hind legs benefit them when jumping, as they give the jump legs support on the surface.

Way of life

nutrition

As with all leaf hoppers, the grass leaf hoppers are fed by piercing and sucking out certain parts of the plant, as it were through a straw. Cicadas depend on food that is already liquid. Foam leaf hoppers are xylem suckers . The xylem sap of pathways , unlike the phloem Juice significantly poorer in nutrients, it must be so much added. As a result, a great deal of liquid is separated out again.

Most species of cicada are restricted to certain nutrient plants. Foam leaf hoppers, on the other hand, are polyphagous , which means that they use several plant genera or families. The nutrient plants of the adult animals and the larvae are sweet and sour grasses as well as rushes.

Reproduction and development

Like all male cicadas and sometimes females, the males of the grasshopper are able to produce rhythmic chants. These are generated by special drum organs ( tymbal organs ), which are located on the sides of the 1st abdominal segment. By pulling a strong sing muscle, the membranes of the drum organs are set in vibration. The noise is generated by indenting (muscle pull) and jumping back (inherent elasticity). The adults live between mid-July and late September.

Mating Mating is started by the male by anchoring his genital fittings to that of the female. It sits diagonally next to the female during the entire copulation and holds on to the side. This creates a V-position typical for foam cicadas and other representatives of the Cicadomorpha. The eggs overwinter and the larvae hatch in the following spring. Foam leaf hoppers form only one generation a year, they are univoltin .

Development of the larvae Grasshopper leaf hoppers are hemimetabolic . They undergo an incomplete transformation from the egg via the larva directly (without the pupal stage) to the full insect ( imago ). The development of the larvae takes place over five stages, whereby with increasing age the facilities for the organs of the adult animal (wings, genital fittings) form and enlarge. The various stages merge into one another via molting. The back of the larvae is highly arched in a semicircular cross-section, the belly is concave. The head is strongly bulged in front of the antennae and eyes and overall round. The abdomen is somewhat inflated. The larvae live wrapped in a foam nest on the stems and leaves of their host plants. They have a respiratory cavity on their abdomen that has evolved from the folds of the abdominal rings. The respiratory orifices (stigmata), the points where the trachea meet on the surface of the body, are located in the respiratory cavity . The trachea form a system of breathing tubes that runs through the entire body of an insect and is the functional equivalent of our lungs . The foam is generated by rhythmically pumping in air bubbles from the respiratory cavity into a protein-containing liquid, which the larvae secrete from the anus. This process continues until the imago leaves the excrement . The consistency of the foam can only be maintained because the animals excrete mucous substances ( glycosaminoglycans, formerly mucopolysaccharides ) and proteins from special excretory organs in the intestine ( Malpighian vessels ) . The foam protects the larvae sitting in it from enemies as well, but primarily receives the moisture and temperature necessary for further development.

Hazard and protection

Foam leaf hoppers are not separately protected by law. In Germany they are not considered endangered.

Species of the genus Neophilaenus in Europe

In Europe there are eleven species in the genus Neophilaenus Haupt 1935 . German species names largely only exist for those species identified in the Federal Republic of Germany.

Sources and further information

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b from Fauna Europaea [1] , accessed on September 2, 2006
  2. ↑ a b H. Nickel: The leafhoppers and planthoppers of Germany (Hemiptera, Auchenorrhyncha): Patterns and strategies in a highly diverse group of phytophagous insects. Pensoft, Sofia and Moscow, 2003, ISBN 954-642-169-3
  3. ^ A b c d R. Remane & E. Wachmann : Cicadas - get to know, observe - Naturbuch Verlag, Augsburg 1993, page 35. ISBN 3-89440-044-7
  4. ^ R. Biedermann & R. Niedringhaus: The cicadas of Germany - identification tables for all kinds. Fründ, Scheeßel 2004, ISBN 3-00-012806-9
  5. ^ W. Westheide & R. Rieger (eds.): Special Zoology, Part 1: Protozoa and invertebrates. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart, Jena, New York, 1996. Pages 651–652
  6. ↑ JR Cryan: Molecular phylogeny of Cicadomorpha (Insecta: Hemiptera: Cicadoidea, Cercopoidea, and Membracoidea): adding evidence to controversy. Systematic Entomology 30 (4), Oct 2005, pp 563-574.
  7. ↑ a b H. Nickel & R. Remane: List of species of cicadas in Germany, with information on nutrient plants, food breadth, life cycle, area and endangerment (Hemiptera, Fulgoromorpha et Cicadomorpha). - Contributions to the cicada 5/2002. pdf 229 kB

further reading

  • M. Boulard: Diversité des Auchénorhynques Cicadomorphes Formes, couleurs et comportements (Diversité structurelle ou taxonomique Diversité particulière aux Cicadidés). In: Denisia 4, S 171-214, 2002. ISBN 3-85474-077-8
  • Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (Ed.): Red List of Endangered Animals in Germany. Landwirtschaftsverlag, Münster 1998, ISBN 3-89624-110-9

Web links

Commons : Foam grasshopper ( Neophilaenus lineatus )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files