Pine Spittlebug
Sam found this planthopper in the yard on August 1, 2012. It was rather large as planthoppers go (1 cm long, or about 3/8 inch).
Based on the rather protruding “nose”, which is quite a bit bigger than what one normally sees on planthoppers, this looks like an adult Pine Spittlebug, Aprhrophora cribrata
It may in fact be the adult form of the spittlebug nymph that I posted on this page way back in 2009. That earlier specimen was among the insects that the kids caught during one of our perennial “bug hunts” at the Portage Lake District Library, and the boy who found it said it was on a pine tree.
Pine spittlebugs evidently prefer the native White Pine (which is the Michigan State Tree, and we have a number of specimens growing on our property), but I expect that they are happy to suck on other kinds of pine trees, too.
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Curse you, spittlebugs! We’ve got them infesting our rosemary bushes.
We also have a lot more of them than usual this year. Particularly in the pine trees. If I stand under a pine right now, these huge blobs of “spittle” will drip all over me. Up in the branches, the spittle blobs can be over an inch in diameter. Luckily, they don’t seem to be particularly hurting the trees.
Really looks a lot like a cicada, doesn’t it?