Slobbering a penny is a pest, the larva of which builds a house with its feet

Penny drooling - an insect belonging to the order of the equinocthes, the family Cercopidae. Adult individuals have an oblong body of yellowish-gray-brown color. They are small in size, about 8 mm. Their front wings with a blurry mottled pattern are folded along the body. The hind legs are adapted for jumping.

All representatives of this family, and slobbering pennitsa in particular, have a proboscis, inside which there are sharp, long, flexible setae. Proboscis is a kind of lips, and setae are analogous to jaws. The movement of the bristles in the proboscis is free, but they do not bend. Therefore, insects easily pierce the skin of plants and suck the juice, feeding in this way. Neither gnaw, nor bite, they can not.

In summer on the grass you can find white lumps, similar to foam or drool. If you move this lump, then inside you can see a small creature of a greenish color. This larva of the penumbra is slobbery, and foam is her home, which she built with her own feet. Having pushed the proboscis into the blade of grass, she sucked the juice, then released it, adding a little air, and quickly worked her legs, churned this liquid, turned out a frothy cap. It keeps on the grass due to the fact that the larva has added some viscous substance to the foam. Perhaps this hat is not a very reliable protection against enemies, but it does not allow the larva to dry out in the sun, besides it reduces the effect of chemical preparations if spraying is carried out.

This kind of protection does not need an adult slobbering penne. The photo shows it well. The veil of the body is no longer as tender as the larva, and it may well be sheltered from the sun in the grass. And in case of danger, he quickly escapes or pretends to be dead.

The larvae feed on the shoots and the underside of the leaves, as a result of which the leaves wrinkle, deform, and the ovaries do not develop. Slobbering penne prefers to settle on strawberries, strawberries, real lavender, grapes, early cabbage, carrots, etc. With a high number of pests, the yield of these crops falls, so it has to be combated.

The stage of the larva lasts from 30 to 50 days. Appeared slobbering penne flies to various plants, eating until autumn. The female lays eggs in groups (about 40 in total) into shoot cuts in wet shaded areas. In the spring, with the growth of plants, insects are born. For a year, only one generation develops.

Preventive measures are the best protection against such a pest as a drooling penny. For this purpose, it is necessary to remove plant residues in autumn. Planting should not be thickened, so as not to create a high humidity, so necessary pennies.

If the pest is few, the planting can be treated with infusion of garlic, tobacco dust or laundry soap. With a large number of insects will have to use a suitable insecticide. During flowering, you can use BI-58, and after harvest - carbofos.

And in conclusion an interesting fact. An adult drooling penny can jump to a height of 0.8 m. If you compose the proportion "size - height of the jump", then the person would jump up to 200 m high. Impressive, is not it?