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Tag Archives: Common froghopper

On Common fleabane: bugs and crickets

21 Friday Aug 2026

Posted by sconzani in nature

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Tags

Adelphocoris lineolatus, British bugs, British crickets, Common fleabane, Common froghopper, Conocephalus fuscus, Coreus marginatus, Dock bug, Dolycoris baccarum, Hairy shieldbug, insects on Common fleabane, Long winged cone-head, Lucerne bug, philaenus spumarius

The subjects of today’s blog about those insects managing to survive this over-heated summer by feeding on Drought-tolerant Common fleabane are bugs, and two examples of one cricket species, because I managed to find both male and female. Let’s begin with bugs …

Two Lucerne bugs (Adelphocoris lineolatus), pretty little things but both trying to hide from me.

I actually saw quite a few Common froghoppers (Philaenus spumarius), and in several of their wonderful variety of brown-and-cream pattern variations.

Clad in its brown armour-like skin and looking ready for a fight, a Dock bug (Coreus marginatus).

An adult Hairy shieldbug (Dolycoris baccarum). (I’ve found quite a lot of nymphs of this species recently and feel they deserve their own blog – you’ll see why soon.)

And now for the crickets. These are Long-winged cone-heads (Conocephalus fuscus), a type of bush-cricket. I’ve just realised that this species has only featured on this blog once before, in July 2020, when I included a photo of a nymph in the post 202/366 More misc minis. The first photo shows a female, though, unfortunately, her impressive ovipositor is mostly obscured; the second image is the male, with a much smaller appendage.

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Fifty shades of brown

17 Saturday Aug 2024

Posted by sconzani in insects

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Tags

British insects, Common froghopper, froghopper, philaenus spumarius

The adult Common froghopper (Philaenus spumarius), s/he that, when a tiny larva, blows bubbles out of its bottom to create the little blob of foam we call ‘Cuckoo spit’ to hide in, is brown, but not just one bland shade of brown. Its brown, which is also good for camouflage, ranges from light to dark: buff, mushroom, beige, ochre, cocoa, russet, sepia, chocolate – so many shades of brown.

240817 common froghoppers

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Hitching a ride

28 Friday Jul 2023

Posted by sconzani in insects

≈ Comments Off on Hitching a ride

Tags

Common froghopper, Dark bush cricket, philaenus spumarius, Pholidoptera griseoaptera

This was my Monday tweet: Critters were hitching rides today! First, Freddy froghopper tickled its way up my left arm.

230728 froghopper 1

Then, Jiminy Dark bush cricket started crawling up my leg (bit freaky!) and jumped on to my arm when I pulled back my trouser leg.

230728 dark bush cricket

Next, Freddy’s cousin Fergus popped on to my right hand.

230728 froghopper 2

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About me

sconzani

sconzani

I'm a writer and photographer; researcher and blogger; birder and nature lover; countryside rambler and city strider; volunteer and biodiversity recorder.

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