On Common fleabane: bugs and crickets

21 Friday Aug 2026

≈ Comments Off on On Common fleabane: bugs and crickets

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.

Second hopper of the year

22 Wednesday Jan 2025

Posted by sconzani in insects, winter

≈ Comments Off on Second hopper of the year

Tags

British bugs, British insects, Common leafhopper, overwintering bugs, overwintering insects, philaenus spumarius

Now you may be wondering ‘Did I miss the first hopper of the year?’ Well, the answer is no. I actually found my first two hoppers in fairly quick succession during last Sunday’s walk, simply by turning over Bramble leaves that were growing along a sunny sheltered lane. The first was a leafhopper, and I’m fairly sure of its identity but a valid query arose when I posted a photo on social media so I decided to wait until that was resolved before blogging about that hopper.

This second bug, a Common froghopper (Philaenus spumarius), was sitting on a Bramble stem, enjoying the sun’s warmth and, no doubt, hoping to be ignored. But a human came lumbering over, spotted it, and thrust a black object in its face. Fortunately, the human didn’t stay long, and the little froghopper returned to its basking.

Fifty shades of brown

17 Saturday Aug 2024

Posted by sconzani in insects

≈ Comments Off on Fifty shades of brown

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