Machaerotidae are a family of bugs in the superfamily Cercopoidea which were formerly grouped with the other cercopids. They are sometimes called as tube-forming spittle-bugs as the nymphs form a calcareous tube within which they live. These bugs are mainly found in the Old World

tropics The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referr ...

. The adults of many genera have a long, free and spine-like

process A process is a series or set of activities that interact to produce a result; it may occur once-only or be recurrent or periodic. Things called a process include: Business and management *Business process, activities that produce a specific se ...

originating at the scutellum and thus superficially similar to the tree-hoppers, Membracidae. Its

tegmen A tegmen (plural: ''tegmina'') designates the modified leathery front wing on an insect particularly in the orders Dermaptera ( earwigs), Orthoptera (grasshoppers, crickets and similar families), Mantodea (praying mantis), Phasmatodea (stick an ...

forewing Insect wings are adult outgrowths of the insect exoskeleton that enable insects to fly. They are found on the second and third thoracic segments (the mesothorax and metathorax), and the two pairs are often referred to as the forewings and hindwi ...

, like typical bugs of the suborder Heteroptera, always has a distinct, membranous apical area. Like other cercopoids, these are xylem-sap feeders. The

nymph A nymph ( grc, νύμφη, nýmphē, el, script=Latn, nímfi, label= Modern Greek; , ) in ancient Greek folklore is a minor female nature deity. Different from Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature, are ...

extracts calcium from the xylem fluid and constructs a

calcareous Calcareous () is an adjective meaning "mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate", in other words, containing lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of scientific disciplines. In zoology ''Calcareous'' is used as an ad ...

tube from Malphigian gland secretions on some woody

dicotyledons The dicotyledons, also known as dicots (or, more rarely, dicotyls), are one of the two groups into which all the flowering plants (angiosperms) were formerly divided. The name refers to one of the typical characteristics of the group: namely, t ...

and immerses itself in a rather clear fluid

excretion Excretion is a process in which metabolic waste is eliminated from an organism. In vertebrates this is primarily carried out by the lungs, kidneys, and skin. This is in contrast with secretion, where the substance may have specific tasks after ...

inside the tube. The tube strongly resembles the shell of certain

serpulid The Serpulidae are a family of sessile, tube-building annelid worms in the class Polychaeta. The members of this family differ from other sabellid tube worms in that they have a specialized operculum that blocks the entrance of their tubes wh ...

sea worms Sea worm may refer to one or several of the following phyla: See also * Marine worm Any worm that lives in a marine environment is considered a marine worm. Marine worms are found in several different phyla, including the Platyhelminthes, Nema ...

helicoid The helicoid, also known as helical surface, after the plane and the catenoid, is the third minimal surface to be known. Description It was described by Euler in 1774 and by Jean Baptiste Meusnier in 1776. Its name derives from its similarity ...

land

snails A snail is, in loose terms, a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class Gastro ...

and contain no less than 75% calcium carbonate. This habit is quite uncommon in the

class Class or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differentl ...

Insecta Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs o ...

and markedly different from that of typical cercopoids or

spittlebugs The froghoppers, or the superfamily Cercopoidea, are a group of hemipteran insects in the suborder Auchenorrhyncha. Adults are capable of jumping many times their height and length, giving the group their common name, but they are best known ...

, which make and live in a froth mass either below or above ground. Machaerotids produce foam only when they emerge from the tube to moult. There are about 115 species in 31 genera placed in 4 tribes. The majority of species are found in Southeast Asia with a small number for Africa. They were traditionally separated into two subfamilies Machaerotinae which have the scutellar spine and Enderleiniinae which lack it. A third family, also lacking the spine, Apomachaerotinae, was introduced in 2014. The scutellum has a "tail" or appears raised towards the posterior end. A list of the subfamilies, tribes and genera is as follows: * Apomachaerotinae ** ''Apomachaerota'' ** ''Serreia'' * Machaerotinae ** Maxudeini *** ''Blastacaen'' *** ''Conditor'' *** ''Maxudea'' ** Machaerotini *** ''Dianmachaerota'' *** ''Grypomachaerota'' *** ''Irridiculum'' *** ''Machaerota'' *** ''Platymachaerota'' *** ''Romachaeta'' *** ''Sigmasoma'' *** ''Tapinacaena'' * Enderleiniinae ** Hindoloidini *** ''Aphrosiphon'' *** ''Hindoloides'' *** ''Kyphomachaerota'' *** ''Trigonurella'' ** Enderleiniini *** ''Aecalusa'' *** ''Allox'' *** ''Chaetophyes'' *** ''Enderleinia'' *** ''Hindola'' *** ''Labramachaerota'' *** ''Labrosyne'' *** ''Machaeropsis'' *** ''Makiptyelus'' *** ''Neuroleinia'' *** ''Neuromachaerota'' *** ''Pectinariophyes'' *** ''Polychaetophyes'' *** ''Taihorina''

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1446780 Cercopoidea Auchenorrhyncha families