Tiny insects can produce negative pressures equivalent to people sucking a 100-meter-long straw. To tap an unlikely source of nutrition, insects small enough to sit on a pencil eraser have to suck harder than any known creature. Philaenus spumarius froghoppers pierce plants with their mouthparts to feed solely on xylem sap, a fluid made mostly of water that moves through plants’ internal plumbing. Not only is the substance largely bereft of nutrients, but it’s also under negative pressures, akin to a vacuum. Sucking the sap requires suction power equivalent to a person drinking water from a 100-meter-long straw. Such a feat seemed so unlikely for the tiny insects that some scientists questioned whether xylem sap truly could be under such negative pressures. But both biomechanical and metabolic evidence suggests that froghoppers can produce negative pressures greater than one megapascal. These insects are really well-adapted for generating” extreme negative pressures. These insects are really well-adapted for generating” extreme negative pressures. Elephants, for example, only generate 0.02 megapascals of negative pressure when they suck large quantities of water through their trunks (SN: 6/3/21), paltry compared with froghoppers. Froghoppers produce suction power with a pump like structure in their heads, where muscles pull on a membrane to generate negative pressures, akin to a piston. Using micro-CT scans of four insects; the researchers measured the length and strength capacity of these structures, and then calculated the insects’ sucking potential using the simple physical formula of pressure equals force divided by area. By placing feeding froghoppers in chambers that measure expelled carbon dioxide, the researchers could calculate the insects’ metabolic rate. The suction power of froghoppers and other xylem sap specialists may be unmatched among animals. There simply aren’t other contexts where food is locked away under such high negative pressures. The suction power of froghoppers and other xylem sap specialists may be unmatched among animals. There simply aren’t other contexts where food is locked away under such high negative pressures.

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