By Lazaro George, Guide - Greystoke MahaleOne day while walking along one of the park trail’s - ‘Roland's Road’ - we encountered a colony of unique insects known as Spittlebugs or Froghoppers. These tiny insects, reputed to be nature’s most powerful jumper, use a kind of catapult (super push-up) mechanism for jumping. They can jump higher than 2 feet.
This sort of movement serves particularly well for adult Spittlebugs, when moving between trees or escaping away from predators. Adult Spittle bugs use this defensive jump mechanism when in danger as well as a means of moving through the forest, although they cannot make these leaps repeatedly, and have to pause between them.
In the rainy season, it is common to encounter the spittlebugs, especially the nymphs. They are easily located by frothy masses of liquid dripping from the twigs, leaves and bark of various plants. which they inhabit. Those masses of liquid (known as spittle) are formed by these nymphs when they have absorbed excess juice from trees.
Walking along Roland Road, we came across a Spittlebug colony containing several nymphs. We tried to see how they reacted when threatened by danger. As we approached, we found that they pushed themselves into the mass of spittle, a very distasteful, unpleasant mass of liquid. They use spittle as a protective mechanism for survival against predators and harmful sunlight.
Spittlebugs cannot be seen in dry season because they hide in tree bark as eggs or nymphs awaiting for the next rainy season when they will morph and hatch.
