''Philaenus'' is a genus of insects belonging to the family

Aphrophoridae The Aphrophoridae or spittlebugs are a family of insects belonging to the order Hemiptera. There are at least 160 genera and 990 described species in Aphrophoridae. European genera * ''Aphrophora'' Germar 1821 * ''Lepyronia'' Amyot & Serville ...

, the spittlebugs. The meadow spittlebug '' Philaenus spumarius'' is a common insect in much of the Northern Hemisphere, and it is sometimes a pest on crops such as

alfalfa Alfalfa () (''Medicago sativa''), also called lucerne, is a perennial flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae. It is cultivated as an important forage crop in many countries around the world. It is used for grazing, hay, and silage, as w ...

. It is important to science because its entire

genome In the fields of molecular biology and genetics, a genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding ge ...

has been

sequenced In genetics and biochemistry, sequencing means to determine the primary structure (sometimes incorrectly called the primary sequence) of an unbranched biopolymer. Sequencing results in a symbolic linear depiction known as a sequence which suc ...

. It has also been the subject of many studies of genetic diversity because it displays marked color polymorphism. There are sixteen color

phenotype In genetics, the phenotype () is the set of observable characteristics or traits of an organism. The term covers the organism's morphology or physical form and structure, its developmental processes, its biochemical and physiological proper ...

s, with individuals taking various dark, pale, mottled, and striped patterns. Most other ''Philaenus'' species are also color polymorphic. Many species are polyphagous, feeding on a number of plants. Some species specialize on one host plant, the common asphodel (''Asphodelus aestivus'').Maryańska-Nadachowska, A., et al. (2013)
Chromosomal location of rDNA clusters and TTAGG telomeric repeats in eight species of the spittlebug genus ''Philaenus'' (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha: Aphrophoridae).
''European Journal of Entomology'', 110(3), 411-418. There are eight species in the genus.Maryańska-Nadachowska, A., Kuznetsova, V. G., & Abdul-Nour, H. (2008)
A chromosomal study on a Lebanese spittlebug ''Philaenus arslani'' (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha: Aphrophoridae).
''European Journal of Entomology'', 105(2), 205. * '' Philaenus arslani'' * '' Philaenus italosignus'' * '' Philaenus loukasi'' * '' Philaenus maghresignus'' * '' Philaenus signatus'' * '' Philaenus spumarius'' – meadow spittlebug * '' Philaenus tarifa'' * '' Philaenus tesselatus''

References

Hemiptera of Europe Aphrophoridae Auchenorrhyncha genera Taxa named by Carl Stål {{auchenorrhyncha-stub