DESERT LOCUST

About:

• Difference between locusts and grasshoppers:
  • Locusts are part of a large group of insects commonly called grasshoppers which have big hind legs for jumping.
    
    
  • Locusts belong to the family called Acrididae.
    
    
  • Locusts differ from grasshoppers in that they have the ability to change their behaviour and habits and can migrate over large distances.
    
    
  
  
  
• Desert Locust:
  • The Desert Locust is one of about a dozen species of short-horned grasshoppers (Acridoidea) that are known to change their behavior and form swarms of adults or bands of hoppers (wingless nymphs).
    
    
  • The swarms that form can be dense and highly mobile.
    
    
  • The Latin name for Desert Locust is Schistocerca gregaria (Forskal).
    
    
  
  
  
• Countries affected by the Desert Locust:
  • During quiet periods (known as recessions) Desert Locusts are usually restricted to the semi-arid and arid deserts of Africa, the Near East and South-West Asia that receive less than 200 mm of rain annually. This is an area of about 16 million square kilometres, consisting of about 30 countries.
    
    
  • During plagues, Desert Locusts may spread over an enormous area of some 29 million square kilometres, extending over or into parts of 60 countries. Desert Locust plagues occurred in 1926-1934, 1940-1948, 1949-1963, 1967-1969 and 1986-1989.