Family Cercopidae 
Spittlebugs 
Spittlebugs are represented in our fauna by 25 species (//48). As a group, the 
adults are stout-bodied, rarely over 12 mm long, oval or oval-elongate, and dull 
colored. The nymphal or immature stages are spent in frothy masses of spittle on 
their host plants. The genus Aphrophora is undergoing revision (5/8). 
The pine spittlebug, Aphrophora parallela (Say), occurs in southern Canada 
and throughout most of the Eastern States from New England to the Lake States, 
Arkansas, Florida, and Alabama. Its favorite host appears to be Scotch pine, but it 
is also known to attack pitch, eastern white, Virginia, jack, slash, loblolly, and 
Japanese pines; Norway, white, and red spruces; and balsam fir, larch, and eastern 
hemlock. Trees of all ages and sizes are attacked. During outbreaks, infested Scotch 
pines may be severely stunted or killed (//38). Adults are tan to dark reddish-brown 
with two narrow, oblique, light bands, usually bordered by darker bands, on each 
wing cover, and are about 8 to 11 mm long (fig. 21). 
Eggs are deposited in dead woody tissue or just under the bark of twigs during 
July and August. In the northern parts of its range, the species spends the winter in 
the egg stage. The nymphs usually hatch in May, and then feed on the twigs, where 
they soon cover themselves with spittle. As they grow, they usually change lo- 
cations and form new masses of spittle at each stop. Upon the approach of 
maturity they often move the the main trunk where several may occupy a single 
spittle mass. When full grown, they migrate to the needles and transform to 
adults. Adults are present during July and August and feed on the same hosts 
without producing spittle masses. There is one generation per year. 
The fungus, Entomophora aphrophorae Rostrup, and high temperatures during 
the nymphal period occasionally cause heavy mortality of the pine spittlebug. The 
pine spittlebug is often associated with Diplodia pini, a fungus that apparently 
invades the tree when weakened and through the insect’s feeding punctures. Most 
| Courtesy Conn. Agric. Exp. Stn. 
Figure 21.—A, adult; B, nymphal spittle masses of the 
pine spittlebug, Aphrophora parallela. 
V2 
