Philaenus

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Cladus: Ecdysozoa
Cladus: Panarthropoda
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Classis: Insecta
Cladus: Dicondylia
Subclassis: Pterygota
Cladus: Metapterygota
Infraclassis: Neoptera
Cladus: Eumetabola
Cladus: Paraneoptera
Superordo: Condylognatha
Ordo: Hemiptera
Subordo: Auchenorrhyncha
Infraordo: Cicadomorpha
Superfamilia: Cercopoidea

Familia: Aphrophoridae
Genus: Philaenus
Species: P. spumarius – P. tesselatus
Name
Philaenus Stål, 1864

Philaenus spumarius

Philaenus is a genus of insects belonging to the family Aphrophoridae, the spittlebugs.

The meadow spittlebug Philaenus spumarius is a common insect in much of the Northern Hemisphere, and it is sometimes a pest on crops such as alfalfa.[1] It is important to science because its entire genome has been sequenced.[2] It has also been the subject of many studies of genetic diversity because it displays marked color polymorphism. There are sixteen color phenotypes, with individuals taking various dark, pale, mottled, and striped patterns.[3] Most other Philaenus species are also color polymorphic.[4]

Many species are polyphagous, feeding on a number of plants. Some species specialize on one host plant, the common asphodel (Asphodelus aestivus).[5]

There are eight species in the genus.[6]

Philaenus arslani
Philaenus italosignus
Philaenus loukasi
Philaenus maghresignus
Philaenus signatus
Philaenus spumarius – meadow spittlebug
Philaenus tarifa
Philaenus tesselatus

References

Owen, D. F., and R. G. Wiegert. (1962). Balanced polymorphism in the meadow spittlebug, Philaenus spumarius. American Naturalist XCVI(891) 353-359.
Stewart, J. B., & Beckenbach, A. T. (2005). Insect mitochondrial genomics: the complete mitochondrial genome sequence of the meadow spittlebug Philaenus spumarius (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha: Cercopoidae). Genome, 48(1), 46-54.
Yurtsever, S. (1999). http://journals.tubitak.gov.tr/zoology/issues/zoo-00-24-4/zoo-24-4-13-9904-6.pdf. Turk J Zool, 24, 447-459.
Drosopoulos, S., Maryańska‐Nadachowska, A., & Kuznetsova, V. G. (2010). The Mediterranean: Area of origin of polymorphism and speciation in the spittlebug Philaenus (Hemiptera, Aphrophoridae). Zoosystematics and Evolution, 86(1), 125-128.
Maryańska-Nadachowska, A., et al. (2013). Chromosomal location of rDNA clusters and TTAGG telomeric repeats in eight species of the spittlebug genus Philaenus (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha: Aphrophoridae). European Journal of Entomology, 110(3), 411-418.
Maryańska-Nadachowska, A., Kuznetsova, V. G., & Abdul-Nour, H. (2008). A chromosomal study on a Lebanese spittlebug Philaenus arslani (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha: Aphrophoridae). European Journal of Entomology, 105(2), 205.