Froghoppers and Bows Are Very Much Alike

Researchers recently observed that froghoppers use the structures similar to bows which are found between their wings and their hind legs, flexing them just like an archer, in order to perform their unbelievable jumps.

The froghoppers, commonly called spittlebugs, are the most formidable jumpers of all the insects in nature. They are able to reach heights of 700 mm (27.5 inch) on their regular jumps, which is 100 times more than the length of their bodies. Scientists that studied them discovered that they are able to do so as they flex the elastic bow-shaped organic structures they are provided with between their hind legs and their wings, and then release all the accumulated tension like a catapult, resulting in an enormous leap.

The research conducted by Malcolm Burrows from the University of Cambridge, together with his team, is aimed at observing how exactly the worldwide-present spittlebug stores the energy produced by its own muscles before attempting a leap. Burrows explains, “A froghopper stores energy by bending a paired bow-shaped part of its internal skeleton called a 'pleural arch' which is a composite structure made of layers of hard cuticle and a rubbery protein called resilin. When the froghopper contracts its muscles to jump, these arches flex like a composite archery bow, and then on recoil catapult it forwards with a force that can be over 400 times its body mass”.

The odd similarities between these small insects and the archery tools don't stop there. Just like a bow, the tough and elastic jumping structures of the froghopper are designed to last and to be able to resist when subjected to long periods of tension. The spittlebugs are always ready to jump, as they keep their pleural arch constantly bent, and they leap without taking any damage. Here is another oddity: froghoppers' pleural arch doesn't contain any resilin during nymph and larva stages, so they're not able to jump until reaching adulthood.