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On August 17, 2024, a froghopper was observed sitting on the edge of a leaf in a forest at Tehatta, West Bengal, India. Froghoppers, or the superfamily Cercopoidea, are a group of hemipteran insects in the suborder Auchenorrhyncha. Adults are capable of jumping many times their height and length, which gives the group their common name. However, many species are best known for their plant-sucking nymphs, which produce foam shelters and are commonly referred to as “spittlebugs”. These nymphs produce a covering of foamed-up plant sap that visually resembles saliva; as a result, they are commonly known as spittlebugs, and their foam is often called cuckoo spit, frog spit, or snake spit. This characteristic spittle production is associated with the unusual trait of xylem feeding. A few species are significant agricultural pests. (Photo by Soumyabrata Roy/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
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