Get up close and you\u2019ll see that these lathery dollops comprise hundreds of tiny bubbles. If you slowly tease them away from the plant on which they are slung, you\u2019ll uncover a rather lovely little yellow-green insect hidden away inside. Once you have uncovered it, a game of hide-and-seek often ensues, as the now vulnerable creature takes cover behind the stem or leaf.<\/p>\n

This insect is the nymph of the common froghopper, Philaenus spumarius<\/i>. The adults are a familiar feature of a summer meadow or hedge bank \u2013 just walk slowly through long vegetation and you can turn up dozens of the things. However, they\u2019re equally shy in adult form, and they\u2019ll quickly recover from any disorientation, pinging off with all the energy of a fully stretched elastic band.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
How and why the queen parrotfish makes a mucus bubble<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
Marsh fritillary: how a life-support bubble helps this rare butterfly survive winter<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
Echidnas blow bubbles to keep cool<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
<\/p><\/div> <\/section>
But the juvenile stages don\u2019t possess this superpower and instead have to rely on a unique fortress \u2013 one made of what biologists call \u2018bio-foam\u2019. To make this, a nymph plunges its mouthparts into a plant\u2019s plumbing, and then fills up until it is turgid with the pressure of sap. After that, it makes one or two priming pumps of its abdomen, before starting to secrete the first of many clear liquid droplets from its anus. This carries on until it is, in effect, sitting in a puddle.<\/p>\n
Just like making bubbles between your forefinger and thumb in a dish of soapy water, the nymph then opens up two finger-like projections at its tip. I imagine these to be like double doors, letting air in, before closing and plunging back into the liquid, where the air is allowed out to form the first of hundreds of bubbles.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
What is the purpose of cuckoo spit?<\/h3>\n
The purpose of this bio-foam is not only to hide the edible insect life within; it\u2019s a physical barrier against small predators, as effective as any spines or bristles. And for birds, just having to sort through the froth is more effort than it\u2019s worth. Other potential advantages for the nymph are avoiding dehydration and exposure to temperature fluctuations.<\/p>\n
This bubbly shroud is pretty economical to make. These insects literally tap into the moist and verdant essence of spring itself: the sap that is pumping its way through the micro-plumbing of everything that is green and juicy. Our froghopper \u2013 being a member of the order of true bugs, or Hemiptera<\/i> \u2013 simply jams its super-sharp drinking straw mouthparts into the plant\u2019s tissue, and plumbs itself directly into the flow. Imagine if you\u2019d perforated the water mains with a drinking straw!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
The froghopper nymph is then able to take in such large quantities of this juice that it consumes over 1,000 times its own body weight in a day \u2013 and it barely has to suck or pump. All it has to do is remove enough proteins and sugars from the liquid to live and grow. The rest? Well, that pops out the other end as bubbles.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
Main image \u00a9 Getty Images<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n
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