Forage-grass

Guides

• Prosapia

  froghoppers, spittlebugs

  Prosapia is a genus of froghoppers (family Ischnorhinidae) comprising approximately six described species distributed across North and Central America, including the Caribbean. These insects are commonly known as spittlebugs due to the protective foamy masses produced by nymphs. Several species are significant agricultural pests of forage grasses, turfgrasses, and sugarcane, causing economic damage through xylem feeding that induces water stress, tissue death, and reduced forage quality. The genus includes the invasive two-lined spittlebug (P. bicincta), which established in Hawaiʻi in 2016 and has since damaged thousands of hectares of cattle pastures.

  spittlebugfroghopperpasture-pestturfgrass-pestinvasive-speciesHawaiʻicattle-ranchingxylem-feederhemimetabolousWolbachiaintegrated-pest-managementforage-grasskikuyu-grassBermuda-grassBrachiariasugarcane-pestCercopidaeIschnorhinidaeeconomic-entomologytropical-agriculture

• Prosapia bicincta

  Two-lined Spittlebug, Twolined Spittlebug

  Prosapia bicincta, commonly known as the two-lined spittlebug, is a froghopper in the family Ischnorhinidae (formerly Cercopidae). Native to the eastern United States, it was first detected in Hawaiʻi in 2016 and has since become a destructive invasive pest of pasture grasses, infesting over 70,000 hectares on Hawaiʻi Island. The species is named for the two prominent red or orange stripes crossing the black wings of adults and for the foamy spittle masses produced by nymphs. It causes significant economic damage to forage grasses, turfgrasses, and sugarcane through feeding that induces water stress, reduces photosynthesis, and causes plant tissue death.

  agricultural-pestinvasive-speciespasture-pestHawaiʻi-invasiveturfgrass-pestfroghopperxylem-feedereconomic-entomologyintegrated-pest-managementforage-grass