The most polyphagous insect herbivore? Host plant associations of the Meadow spittlebug, Philaenus spumarius (L.)

Abstract

A comprehensive list of all known host plant species utilised by the Meadow Spittlebug (Philaenus spumarius (L.)) is presented, compiled from published and unpublished sources. P. spumarius feeds on 1311 host plants in 631 genera and 117 families. This appears, by a large margin, to be the greatest number of host species exploited by any herbivorous insect. The Asteraceae (222 species) and Rosaceae (110) together account for 25% of all host species. The Fabaceae (76) and Poaceae (73), are nearly tied for third and fourth place and these four families, combined with the Lamiaceae (62), Apiaceae (50), Brassicaceae (43) and Caprifoliaceae (34), comprise about half of all host species. Hosts are concentrated among herbaceous dicots but range from ferns and grasses to shrubs and trees. Philaenus spumarius is an “extreme polyphage”, which appears to have evolved from a monophage ancestor in the past 3.7 to 7.9 million years. It is also the primary European vector of the emerging plant pathogen Xylella fastidiosa. Its vast host range suggests that it has the potential to spread X. fastidiosa among multiple hosts in any environment in which both the spittlebug and bacterium are present. Fully 47.9% of all known hosts were recorded in the Xylella-inspired BRIGIT citizen science P. spumarius host survey, including 358 hosts new to the documentary record, 27.3% of the 1311 total. This is a strong demonstration of the power of organized amateur observers to contribute to scientific knowledge.

Insect-habitat-plant interaction networks provide guidelines to mitigate the risk of transmission of Xylella fastidiosa to grapevine in Southern France

“…Finally, although P. spumarius had the highest generality score at the plant species level, it was not significantly more generalist than A. alni, L. coleoptrata or Neophilaenus sp. The 18 plant families on which it was found in the present study were also reported by Thompson et al (2023). However, we observed P. spumarius on 6 plant genera not yet reported in the literature -namely Anacyclus, Carthamus, Cota, Petrorhagia, Thrincia and Thyrimnus -and 30 new plant species records (see Table S10.1 & S10.2 in Appendix 10).…”

“…• Cyperaceae, represented by Carex hirta and • Euphorbiaceae represented by Euphorbia helioscopia. Table S10.1 -Plant genera listed in Thompson et al (2023) and in the present study as hosts of P. spumarius. Taxonomy follows the currently accepted names in GBIF (GBIF.org, 2023) after check with 'get_gbif_taxonomy » function in R (Schneider, 2018).…”

“…in meadows, or Cicadella viridis and Aphrophora spp. in riparian habitats (Casarin et al, 2021;Morente et al, 2018;Thompson et al, 2023); 2/ the biggest reservoirs would be mainly semi-natural herbaceous strata (meadow, alfalfa, riparian vegetation) (Casarin et al, 2021;Weaver & King, 1954).…”

Does the superfluous killing exhibited by spiders mask the functional response parameters? A case study from the perspective of biological control

“…Xylella fastidiosa is widely spread in the Americas, but has become a new agricultural threat in Europe since the first detection in Apulia (Italy) in 2013 (EFSA, 2020;Saponari et al, 2013). It is able to infect more than 600 plant species among ornamentals, crops and wild plants (European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) et al, 2021;Thompson et al, 2023).…”

Twenty-five-year mapping species of the superfamily Cercopoidea (Hemiptera, Auchenorrhyncha) in Bulgaria

“…The superfamily Cercopoidea ( Hemiptera , Auchenorrhyncha ), commonly known as spittlebugs, feed on xylem sap from a variety of plant hosts. Although some are monophagous throughout their lives or only in the nymphal stage, others are known to be very broadly polyphagous as Philaenus spumarius (L.) is known to be the most polyphagous phytophage ( Thompson et al 2023 ). Their colloquial name derives from the distinctive developmental pattern in their nymphal stages, which is characterised by the production of froth or "spittle", presumably as a protective covering.…”