Two-lined spittlebug
The two-lined spittlebug is a small black bug with two red or orange stripes across its wings. Its babies hide inside a ball of foam that they blow themselves. It looks like someone spat on the grass.
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Fun facts
The babies make their foam from the plant juice they drink. Inside it they stay wet and hidden.
It can damage lawns and pastures, so farmers and gardeners do not like it.
Since 2016 it has been killing patches of grass on the island of Hawaiสปi. By 2022 the damage covered more than 70 000 hectares.
A cousin of it lives in Central America and is a pest there too.
Most asked questions about Two-lined spittlebug
?What is the foam on my grass?
It may be the home of a baby spittlebug. It blows the foam from plant juice to hide in.
?Is the two-lined spittlebug harmful?
Not to people, but it can damage lawns and pastures.
?How big is the two-lined spittlebug?
About 8 to 10 millimetres long.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Prosapia bicincta
- Group
- True bugs and cicadas
- Family
- Ischnorhinidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Hemiptera > Ischnorhinidae
- Lives on
- North America, Australia and Oceania
Where the facts come from
- Prosapia bicincta (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Kaldari. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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