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113-550: The desert locust ( Schistocerca gregaria ) is a species of locust , a periodically swarming , short-horned grasshopper in the family Acrididae . They are found primarily in the deserts and dry areas of northern and eastern Africa, Arabia, and southwest Asia. During population surge years, they may extend north into parts of Southern Europe, south into Eastern Africa, and east in northern India. The desert locust shows periodic changes in its body form and can change in response to environmental conditions, over several generations, from

226-403: A delicacy in many countries. Locusts are the swarming phase of certain species of short-horned grasshoppers in the family Acrididae . These insects are usually solitary, but under certain circumstances become more abundant and change their behaviour and habits, becoming gregarious . No taxonomic distinction is made between locust and grasshopper species; the basis for the definition

339-534: A pheromone that causes them to be attracted to each other, enhancing hopper band and subsequently swarm formation. The nymphal pheromone is different from the adult one. When exposed to the adult pheromone, hoppers become confused and disoriented, because they can apparently no longer "smell" each other, though the visual and tactile stimuli remain. After a few days, the hopper bands disintegrate and those that escape predation become solitary again. During quiet periods, called recessions, desert locusts are confined to

452-478: A 10- to 16-fold increase in locust numbers occurs from one generation to the next. The desert locust is probably the oldest and most dangerous migratory pest in the world. The scale of the invasions and destruction they cause is due to their exceptional gregarious nature, their mobility, the voracity and size of their hopper bands and swarms. Desert locust invasions can be absolutely devastating and have serious repercussions on national and regional food security and on

565-764: A 16-million-square-kilometre (6.2-million-square-mile) belt that extends from Mauritania through the Sahara Desert in northern Africa , across the Arabian Peninsula , and into northwest India . Under optimal ecological and climatic conditions, several successive generations can occur, causing swarms to form and invade countries on all sides of the recession area, as far north as Spain and Russia , as far south as Nigeria and Kenya , and as far east as India and southwest Asia. As many as 60 countries can be affected within an area of 32 million square kilometres (12 million square miles), or about 20% of

678-564: A billion insects, reaching "plague" status and covering about half the country by March 2013. Species such as the Senegalese grasshopper ( Oedaleus senegalensis ) and the African rice grasshopper ( Hieroglyphus daganensis ), both from the Sahel , often display locust-like behaviour and change morphologically on crowding. North America is the only sub-continent besides Antarctica without

791-400: A cohesive group. Individuals that get detached from a swarm fly back into the mass. Others that get left behind after feeding take off to rejoin the swarm when it passes overhead. When individuals at the front of the swarm settle to feed, others fly past overhead and settle in their turn, the whole swarm acting like a rolling unit with an ever-changing leading edge. The locusts spend much time on

904-619: A collaborative effort between countries and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Desert Locust Information Service (DLIS), which provides global and national assessments, forecasts, and early warning to affected countries and the international community. The desert locust's migratory nature and capacity for rapid population growth present major challenges for control, particularly in remote semiarid areas, which characterize much of their range. Locusts differ from other grasshoppers in their ability to change from

1017-517: A disease that is specific to the insect. Biological control products have been under development since the late 1990s; Green Muscle and NOVACRID are based on a naturally occurring entomopathogenic fungus, Metarhizium acridum . Species of Metarhizium are widespread throughout the world, infecting many groups of insects, but show low risk to humans, other mammals , and birds. The species M. acridum has specialised in short-horned grasshoppers , to which these locusts belong, so has been chosen as

1130-597: A few weeks. Locusts in the gregarious phase differ in morphology and development. In the desert locust and the migratory locust, for example, the gregaria nymphs become darker with strongly contrasting yellow and black markings, they grow larger, and have a longer nymphal period; the adults are larger with different body proportions, less sexual dimorphism , and higher metabolic rates ; they mature more rapidly and start reproducing earlier, but have lower levels of fecundity . The mutual attraction between individual insects continues into adulthood, and they continue to act as

1243-515: A generation of breeding that could not be addressed due to conflict and insecurity, which prolonged the upsurge in the Horn of Africa. The upsurge was finally brought under control by early 2022 as a result of successful and intensive control operations in northern Somalia and poor rainfall. As of 1 April 2022 there are no locust crises anywhere in the world but swarms are expected in October in

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1356-424: A hole into which an egg pod containing up to 100 eggs is deposited. The egg pod is 3 to 4 cm ( 1 + 1 ⁄ 8 to 1 + 5 ⁄ 8  in) long and the lower end is about 10 cm (4 in) below the surface of the ground. The eggs are surrounded by foam and this hardens into a membrane and plugs the hole above the egg pod. The eggs absorb moisture from the surrounding soil. The incubation period before

1469-804: A locust recipe from Morocco. 19th century European travellers observed Arabs in Arabia, Egypt, and Morocco selling, cooking, and eating locusts. They reported that in Egypt and Palestine locusts were consumed, and that in Palestine, around the River Jordan, in Egypt, in Arabia, and in Morocco that Arabs ate locusts, while Syrian peasants did not eat locusts. In the Haouran region, Fellahs who were in poverty and suffered from famine ate locusts after removing

1582-422: A lower price. In addition, the negative income shock can have a long-term impact on the educational outcomes of children living in rural areas. The potential benefits of locust swarms are seldom acknowledged. However, locusts are not all bad, as the biomass of locust individuals contributes greatly to ecosystem processes in case of an invasion. Locust frass and cadavers are rich in nutrients which are transferred to

1695-414: A major field for international cooperation. The International Agricultural Institute developed several programmes aimed at exchanging data about the desert locust and international conferences were held in the 1930s: Rome in 1931, Paris in 1932, London in 1934, Cairo in 1936, and Brussels in 1938. Colonial empires were heavily involved in these attempts to control locust pests, which affected heavily

1808-607: A military raid with his companions. Locusts are eaten in the Arabian Peninsula , including Saudi Arabia. In 2014, consumption of locusts spiked around Ramadan especially in the Al-Qassim Region , since many Saudis believe they are healthy to eat, but the Saudi Ministry of Health warned that pesticides made them unsafe. Yemenis also consume locusts, and expressed discontent over governmental plans to use pesticides against them. ʻAbd al-Salâm Shabînî described

1921-791: A native locust species. The Rocky Mountain locust was formerly one of the most significant insect pests there, but it became extinct in 1902. In the 1930s, during the Dust Bowl , a second species of North American locust, the High Plains locust ( Dissosteira longipennis ), reached plague proportions in the American Midwest. Today, the High Plains locust is a rare species, leaving North America with no regularly swarming locusts. The fossilized wing of an indeterminate locust has been found in Early Oligocene -aged sediments of

2034-494: A one-to-two-year continuum of favourable weather (greater frequency of rains) and habitats that support population increases leading to upsurges and plagues. The desert locust is potentially the most dangerous of the locust pests because of the ability of swarms to fly rapidly across great distances. The major desert locust upsurge in 2004–05 caused significant crop losses in West Africa and diminished food security in

2147-425: A population of up to 80 million per square kilometre (200 million per square mile). When desert locusts meet, their nervous systems release serotonin, which causes them to become mutually attracted, a prerequisite for swarming. The formation of initial bands of gregarious hoppers is called an "outbreak"; when these join into larger groups, the event is known as an "upsurge". Continuing agglomerations of upsurges on

2260-470: A regional level originating from a number of entirely separate breeding locations are known as "plagues". During outbreaks and the early stages of upsurges, only part of the locust population becomes gregarious, with scattered bands of hoppers spread out over a large area. As time goes by, the insects become more cohesive and the bands become concentrated in a smaller area. In the desert locust plague in Africa,

2373-662: A result, new swarms formed that crossed the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden and invaded the Horn of Africa, specifically northeast Ethiopia and northern Somalia in June 2019. Again, good rains allowed further breeding during the summer, followed by another generation of widespread breeding during the autumn in eastern Ethiopia and central Somalia, which was exacerbated by the unusually late occurring Cyclone Pawan in northeast Somalia in early December. The swarms that subsequently formed invaded Kenya in late December 2019 and spread throughout

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2486-462: A second egg stage to reach their adult form. This hypothesis attempts to explain the developmental differences between hemimetabolous and holometabolous metamorphosis. Though there is little evidence supporting Harvey's hypothesis, it is still significant to modern research in nymphs. In fly fishing with artificial flies, this stage of aquatic insects is the basis for an entire series of representative patterns for trout. They account for over half of

2599-471: A smaller range in south-west Africa and is of less economic importance, although outbreaks have been observed in the past. The genus Schistocerca consists of more than 30 species, distributed in Africa, Asia, and North and South America, and many species are difficult to identify due to the presence of variable morphs. It is the only genus within the Cyrtacanthacridinae that occurs in both

2712-420: A solitary living form into gregarious, highly mobile, adult swarms and hopper bands, as their numbers and densities increase. They exist in different states known as recessions (with low and intermediate numbers), rising to local outbreaks and regional upsurges with increasingly high densities, to plagues consisting of numerous swarms. They have two to five generations per year. The desert locust risk increases with

2825-474: A solitary phase and a gregarious phase, a type of polyphenism . Solitary locusts nymphs and adults can behave gregariously within a few hours of being placed in a crowded situation, while gregarious locusts need one or more generations to become solitary when reared in isolation. Differences in morphology and behaviour are seen between the two phases. In the solitary phase, the hoppers do not group together into bands but move about independently. Their colouring in

2938-679: A solitary, shorter-winged, highly fecund, non-migratory form to a gregarious, long-winged, and migratory phase in which they may travel long distances into new areas. In some years, they may thus form locust plagues, invading new areas, where they may consume all vegetation including crops, and at other times, they may live unnoticed in small numbers. During plague years, desert locusts can cause widespread damage to crops, as they are highly mobile and feed on large quantities of any kind of green vegetation, including crops, pasture, and fodder . A typical swarm can be made up of 150 million locusts per square kilometre (390,000,000 per square mile) and fly in

3051-462: A state of emergency. Similarly, Pakistan also declared a state of emergency. The UN continued to warn that the Horn of Africa was facing a dangerous situation. Fortunately, the international community responded quickly and generously despite other urgent situations such as COVID-19, and the $ 230 million appeal by FAO was fully funded. This allowed ground and aerial operations to treat 2.3 million hectares (5.7 million acres) of desert locust in

3164-474: A sufficient proportion of nomadic bands can be killed with insecticide before their swarming phase. This may be possible in richer countries like Morocco and Saudi Arabia, but neighbouring poorer countries such as Mauritania and Yemen lack the resources and may breed locust swarms that threaten the whole region. Several organisations around the world monitor the threat from locusts. They provide forecasts detailing regions likely to suffer from locust plagues in

3277-448: A variety of innovative digital devices, such as eLocust3, to collect, record and transmit standardized data in real-time to their national locust centres for decision-making. This data is automatically integrated into SWARMS, the global monitoring and early warning system operated by DLIS. Within this system, the field data are combined with the latest satellite imagery to actively monitor rainfall, vegetation and soil moisture conditions in

3390-427: A yellow background. The immatures are pink and the mature adults are bright yellow and fly during the day in dense swarms. The change from an innocuous solitary insect to a voracious gregarious one normally follows a period of drought, when rain falls and vegetation flushes occur in major desert locust breeding locations. The population builds up rapidly and the competition for food increases. As hoppers get more crowded,

3503-403: Is a threat to food security. Desert locust control still relies mainly on chemical pesticides. In the event of an invasion, control operations are of such magnitude that the products used can have serious side effects on human health, the environment, non-target organisms and biodiversity. These side effects are increasingly well known. Correct application of the preventive strategy recommended by

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3616-488: Is available on the FAO Locust Watch website. DLIS continuously adopts the latest technologies as innovative tools, including drones, to improve monitoring and early warning. FAO also provides information and training to affected countries and coordinates funding from donor agencies in case of major upsurges and plagues. The desert locust is a difficult pest to control, and control measures are further compounded by

3729-761: Is made between locust and grasshopper species; the basis for the definition is whether a species forms swarms under intermittently suitable conditions; this has evolved independently in multiple lineages, comprising at least 18 genera in 5 different subfamilies. Normally, these grasshoppers are innocuous, their numbers are low, and they do not pose a major economic threat to agriculture. However, under suitable conditions of drought followed by rapid vegetation growth, serotonin in their brains triggers dramatic changes: they start to breed abundantly, becoming gregarious and nomadic (loosely described as migratory ) when their populations become dense enough. They form bands of wingless nymphs that later become swarms of winged adults. Both

3842-512: Is one of the main components of the pheromones that cause locust swarming. Pheromones also accelerate S. gregaria development. Mahamat et al. , 1993 find that an undifferentiated mix of several volatiles derived from the males of the species (including guaiacol) speed up the maturation process of both immature males and females. S. gregaria was one of the organisms examined by McNeill and Hoyle 1967 and found to have thinner muscle filaments than those before found. This contributed greatly to

3955-624: Is probably the best known species owing to its wide distribution ( North Africa , Middle East , and Indian subcontinent ) and its ability to migrate over long distances. A major infestation covered much of western Africa from 2003 to 2005 , after unusually heavy rain set up favourable ecological conditions for swarming. The first outbreaks occurred in Mauritania, Mali, Niger, and Sudan in 2003. The rain allowed swarms to develop and move north to Morocco and Algeria, threatening croplands. Swarms crossed Africa, appearing in Egypt, Jordan and Israel,

4068-419: Is transferred from the tip of his abdomen to the tip of hers, where it is stored. The process takes several hours and one insemination is sufficient for a number of batches of eggs. The female locust then seeks suitable soft soil in which to lay her eggs. It needs to be the right temperature and degree of dampness and be in close proximity to other egg-laying females. She probes the soil with her abdomen and digs

4181-670: Is unsaturated, and 286 mg of cholesterol. Among the fatty acids, palmitoleic , oleic , and linolenic acids were found to be the most abundant. Varying amounts of potassium, sodium, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, iron, and zinc were present. Nymph (biology) Many species of arthropods have nymph stages. This includes the orders Orthoptera ( crickets , grasshoppers and locusts ), Hemiptera ( cicadas , shield bugs , whiteflies , aphids , leafhoppers , froghoppers , treehoppers ), mayflies , termites , cockroaches , mantises , stoneflies and Odonata ( dragonflies and damselflies ). Nymphs of aquatic insects , as in

4294-1067: Is very labour-intensive and is difficult to undertake when large infestations are scattered over a wide area. Farmers also try to scare locust swarms away from their fields by making noise, burning tires , or other methods. This tends to shift the problem to neighbouring farms, and locust swarms can easily return to reinfest previously visited fields. Biopesticides include fungi, bacteria, neem extract, and pheromones. The effectiveness of many biopesticides equals that of conventional chemical pesticides, but two distinct differences exist. Biopesticides in general take longer to kill insects, plant diseases, or weeds, usually between 2 and 10 days. The two types of biopesticides are biochemical and microbial. Biochemical pesticides are similar to naturally occurring chemicals and are nontoxic, such as insect pheromones used to locate mates, while microbial biopesticides, come from bacteria, fungi, algae, or viruses that either occur naturally or are genetically altered. Entomopathogenic fungi generally suppress pests by mycosis - causing

4407-458: Is whether a species forms swarms under intermittently suitable conditions. In English, the term "locust" is used for grasshopper species that change morphologically and behaviourally on crowding, forming swarms that develop from bands of immature stages called hoppers. The change is described as density-dependent phenotypic plasticity . These changes are examples of phase polyphenism ; they were first analysed and described by Boris Uvarov , who

4520-519: The Book of Revelation . Aristotle studied locusts and their breeding habits and Livy recorded a devastating plague in Capua in 203 BC. He mentioned human epidemics following locust plagues which he associated with the stench from the putrifying corpses; the linking of human disease outbreaks to locust plagues was widespread. A pestilence in the northwestern provinces of China in 311 AD that killed 98% of

4633-518: The Pabdeh Formation in Iran , which were deposited in a deep marine environment. The locust was likely migrating across the early Paratethys Sea , between the emergent Arabian Peninsula and central Iran, which were still separated by large areas of deep ocean at this time. This suggests that trans-oceanic locust migrations have been occurring for at least 30 million years, likely facilitated by

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4746-618: The Rocky Mountain locust has been a source of puzzlement. It had swarmed throughout the west of the United States and parts of Canada in the 19th century. Albert's swarm of 1875 was estimated to contain 12.5 trillion insects covering an area of 198,000 square miles (510,000 km ) (larger than the state of California ) and to weigh 27.5 million tons. The last specimen was seen alive in Canada in 1902. Recent research suggests

4859-514: The Sahel , Yemen and on the India–Pakistan border . In southwest Asia, the upsurge was brought under control much earlier because of a massive effort undertaken by India and Pakistan along both sides of their common border during the summer of 2020 that followed from earlier control operations during the spring of 2019 and 2020 by Iran and during the summer of 2019 by Pakistan and India. In June 2020, Cyclone Nisarga helped spread swarms across

4972-618: The Senegalese grasshopper . During trials in Algeria and Mauritania in 2005 and 2006, various natural enemies, but especially birds, were abundant enough to eliminate treated hopper bands in about a week, because the diseased hoppers became sluggish and easy to catch. In the 1900s, there were six major desert locust plagues, one of which lasted almost 13   years. From March to October 1915, swarms of locusts stripped areas in and around Palestine , Mount Lebanon and Syria of almost all vegetation . This infestation seriously compromised

5085-435: The fruit fly ( Drosophila ) and the housefly ( Musca ). It is a suitable school laboratory animal because of its robustness and ease of breeding and handling. At Tel Aviv University , scientists have been using the antennae's acute sensitivity of Sense of smell to detect different odors in various technologies. Locusts have been used as food throughout history. They are considered meat. Several cultures throughout

5198-694: The heterometabolous insects, as their adult and immature stages live in different environments ( terrestrial vs. aquatic ). In 1628, English physician William Harvey published An Anatomical Disquisition on the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals. In his writing, Harvey hypothesized that the pupal stage in insects was the result of imperfect eggs. While some eggs produced smaller versions of fully-matured insects known as nymphs, others created intermediate forms. Thus, these intermediate forms must go through

5311-987: The rain forests of Africa nor into central Europe. However, locust adults and swarms regularly cross the Red Sea between Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, and are even reported to have crossed the Atlantic Ocean from Africa to the Caribbean in 10 days during the 1987–89 plague. A single swarm can cover up to 1,200 square kilometres (460 sq mi) and can contain between 40 and 80 million locusts per square kilometre (100,000,000 and 210,000,000 per square mile) (a total of around 50 to 100 billion locusts per swarm, representing 100,000 to 200,000 metric tons (98,000 to 197,000 long tons; 110,000 to 220,000 short tons), considering an average mass of 2 g per locust). The locust can live between 3 and 6 months, and

5424-595: The 2004-2005 upsurge were Algeria , Burkina Faso , the Canary Islands , Cape Verde , Chad , Egypt , Ethiopia , the Gambia , Greece , Guinea , Guinea Bissau , Israel , Jordan , Lebanon , Libyan Arab Jamahiriya , Mali , Mauritania , Morocco , Niger , Saudi Arabia , Senegal , Sudan , Syria , and Tunisia . In May 2018, Cyclone Mekunu brought unprecedented rainfall to the Empty Quarter of

5537-400: The 20th century, but they continue to occur when the conditions are met. Early intervention to prevent large locust swarms is more successful than later action once swarms have built up. The means to control locust populations is now available, but organisational, financial, and political problems may be difficult to overcome. Monitoring is the key to early detection and eradication. Ideally,

5650-520: The Arabian Peninsula that was followed by Cyclone Luban that brought heavy rains again to the same area in October. This allowed conditions to be favourable for three generations of breeding, which caused an estimated 8,000-fold increase in Desert Locust numbers that went unchecked because the area was so remote it could not be accessed by national locust teams. In early 2019, waves of swarms migrated from this remote and inaccessible area north to

5763-754: The Bible. Locust plague is mentioned in the Indian Mahabharata . The Iliad mentions locusts taking to the wing to escape fire. Plagues of locusts are mentioned in the Quran. In the ninth century BC, the Chinese authorities appointed anti-locust officers. In the New Testament , John the Baptist was said to survive in the wilderness on locusts and wild honey; and human-headed locusts appear in

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5876-618: The Desert Locust Control Organization for East Africa (DLCO-EA). The desert locust has natural enemies such as predatory wasps and flies, parasitoid wasps , predatory beetle larvae, birds , and reptiles . These may be effective at keeping solitary populations in check but are of limited effects against gregarious desert locusts because of the enormous numbers of insects in the swarms and hopper bands. Farmers often try mechanical means of killing locusts, such as digging trenches and burying hopper bands, but this

5989-637: The Earth's land surface. Locust swarms fly with the wind at roughly the speed of the wind. They can cover from 100 to 200 km (62 to 124 mi) in a day, and fly up to about 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) above sea level (the temperature becomes too cold at higher altitudes). Therefore, swarms cannot cross tall mountain ranges such as the Atlas , the Hindu Kush , or the Himalayas . They do not venture into

6102-525: The FAO and the use of good treatment practices that are more respectful of people and the environment can limit the negative impacts of these large-scale sprayings. The external social costs to the local human population during desert locust outbreaks can be enormous, but difficult to estimate. Crop and pasture losses can lead to severe food shortages and a large imbalance in food rations, large price fluctuations in markets, insufficient availability of grazing areas,

6215-452: The Horn of Africa and Yemen in 2020 and 2021. Up to 20 aircraft were deployed simultaneously, supported by hundreds of ground teams, and more than 1.4 million locations were surveyed. These collective efforts averted 4.5 million metric tons (4,400,000 long tons; 5,000,000 short tons) of crop losses, saved 900 million litres (240,000,000 US gallons) of milk production, and secured food for nearly 47 million people. The commercial value of

6328-478: The Iku-Katavi National Park infested with adult locusts. The outbreak was contained without harm to the local elephants , hippopotamuses , and giraffes . The locust is large and easy to breed and rear, and is used as an experimental model in research studies. It has been used in evolutionary biology research and to test the generalizability of conclusions reached about test organisms such as

6441-520: The Middle East and parts of Africa. The USSR also used locust control as a way to expand its influence in the Middle East and Central Asia. FAO 's Desert Locust Information Service (DLIS) in Rome monitors the weather, ecological conditions, and the locust situation on a daily basis. DLIS receives results of survey and control operations carried out by national teams in affected countries. The teams use

6554-450: The Middle East, and Asia that lasted from 1966 to 1969, the number of locusts increased from two to 30 billion over two generations, but the area covered decreased from over 100,000 square kilometres (39,000 sq mi) to 5,000 square kilometres (1,900 sq mi). One of the greatest differences between the solitary and gregarious phases is behavioural. The gregaria nymphs are attracted to each other, this being seen as early as

6667-633: The New World after a dispersal event that took place 6 to 7 million years ago. The morphology and colour of Schistocerca gregaria differ depending on whether individuals are solitary (or solitaria morph) or gregarious(or gregaria morph). Morphology - Adults: solitary female 6-9 cm long; male 4.5-6 cm; gregarious female 5-6 cm long; male 4.5-5 cm. Prosternal tubercle straight, blunt and slightly sloping backwards. Male subgenital plate bilobed, cerci flat and blunt. Elytra marked with large irregular spots. Pronotum not crested, narrower and saddle-shaped in

6780-457: The New and Old World. Most species have the fastigium deflexed and lack lateral carinae on the pronotum. The hind tibiae have smooth margins with numerous spines, but have no apical spine on the outer margin. The second tarsal segment is half as long as the first. Males in the genus have broad anal cerci and a split subgenital plate. The genus is thought to have originated in Africa and then speciated in

6893-497: The Odonata, Ephemeroptera, and Plecoptera orders, are also called naiads , an Ancient Greek name for mythological water nymphs . Some entomologists have said that the terms larva, nymph and naiad should be used according to the developmental mode classification (hemimetabolous, paurometabolous or holometabolous) but others have pointed out that there is no real confusion. In older literature, these were sometimes referred to as

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7006-495: The active ingredient of the product. The product is available in Australia under the name Green Guard and in Africa, it used to be available as Green Muscle. However, since Green Muscle seems to have disappeared from the market, another product, NOVACRID, was developed for Africa, Central Asia, and the Middle East. These products are applied in the same way as chemical insecticides, but do not kill as quickly. At recommended doses,

7119-489: The advantage that many can be produced in artificial culture in large quantities and be used with ordinary spraying equipment. Entomopathogenic fungi were traditionally seen as needing humid conditions to work well. However, the LUBILOSA programme found a way to avoid this by spraying fungal spores in an oil formulation . Even under desert conditions, Green Muscle can be used to kill locusts and other acridid pests, such as

7232-522: The already-depleted food supply of the region and sharpened the misery of all Jerusalemites . Since the early 1960s, there have been two desert locust plagues (1967-1968 and 1986-1989) and six desert locust upsurges (1972-1974, 1992-1994, 1994-1996, 2004-2005, 1996-1998, and 2019-2021). From October 2003 to May 2005, West Africa faced the largest and most numerous desert locust infestations in 15 years. The upsurge started as small, independent outbreaks that developed in Mauritania, Mali, Niger, and Sudan in

7345-411: The autumn of 2003. Two days of unusually heavy rains that stretched from Dakar, Senegal , to Morocco in October allowed breeding conditions to remain favourable for the next 6 months and the desert locusts rapidly increased. Lack of rain and cold temperatures in the winter breeding area of northwest Africa in early 2005 slowed the development of the locusts and allowed the locust control agencies to stop

7458-846: The bands and the swarms move around, rapidly strip fields, and damage crops . The adults are powerful fliers; they can travel great distances, consuming most of the green vegetation wherever the swarm settles. Locusts have formed plagues since prehistory . The ancient Egyptians carved them on their tombs and the insects are mentioned in the Iliad , the Mahabharata , the Bible and Quran . Swarms have devastated crops and have caused famines and human migrations. More recently, changes in agricultural practices and better surveillance of locust breeding grounds have allowed control measures at an early stage. Traditional locust control uses insecticides from

7571-544: The breeding grounds of this insect in the valleys of the Rocky Mountains came under sustained agricultural development during the large influx of gold miners , destroying the underground eggs of the locust. The 1915 infestation across Palestine and Syria was one of the main contributors to famine in Lebanon which lasted from 1915 to 1918 during which around 200,000 people died. Plagues became less common in

7684-407: The cereal and milk loss averted is estimated at $ 1.77 billion. FAO's Locust Watch contains the latest situation and forecasts as well as a full, detailed description of the recent upsurge. The swarming pheromone guaiacol is produced in the gut of desert locusts by the breakdown of plant material. This process is undertaken by the gut bacterium Pantoea ( Enterobacter ) agglomerans . Guaiacol

7797-459: The close physical contact causes the insects' hind legs to bump against one another. This stimulus triggers a cascade of metabolic and behavioral changes that causes the insects to transform from the solitary to the gregarious phase. When the hoppers become gregarious, their colouration changes from largely green to yellow and black, and the adults change from brown to pink (immature) or yellow (mature). Their bodies become shorter, and they give off

7910-606: The country where they bred in between the rainy seasons because of unusual rainfall. Kenya had only witnessed swarm invasions twice in the past 75 years (1955 and 2007). Some swarms also invaded Uganda, South Sudan, Tanzania and one small swarm reached northeast D.R. Congo, the first time since 1945. The situation improved in Kenya and elsewhere by the summer of 2020 due to large-scale aerial control operations, made available by generous assistance from international partners. Nevertheless, food security and livelihoods were impacted throughout

8023-400: The cycle. During the upsurge, nearly 130,000 square kilometres (50,000 square miles) were treated by ground and aerial operations in 23 countries. The costs of fighting this upsurge have been estimated by the FAO to have exceeded US$ 400 million, and harvest losses were valued at up to US$ 2.5 billion, which had disastrous effects on food security in West Africa. The countries affected by

8136-406: The desert locust nymph undergoes five moults before becoming a winged adult. Immature and mature individuals in the gregarious phase form bands that feed, bask, and move as cohesive units, while solitary-phase individuals do not seek conspecifics. After the imaginal moult, the young adult is initially soft with drooping wings, but within a few days, the cuticle hardens and haemolymph is pumped into

8249-476: The development of the sliding filament theory . Locust Locusts (derived from the Latin locusta , locust or lobster ) are various species of short-horned grasshoppers in the family Acrididae that have a swarming phase. These insects are usually solitary, but under certain circumstances they become more abundant and change their behaviour and habits, becoming gregarious . No taxonomic distinction

8362-500: The direction of the prevailing wind, up to 150 kilometres (93 mi) in one day. Even a very small, 1-square-kilometre (0.39 sq mi) locust swarm can eat the same amount of food in a day as about 35,000 people. As an international transboundary pest that threatens agricultural production and livelihoods in many countries in Africa, the Near East, and southwest Asia, their populations have been routinely monitored through

8475-417: The eggs hatch may be two weeks, or much longer, depending on the temperature. The newly hatched nymph soon begins to feed, and if it is a gregarious individual, is attracted to other hoppers and they group together. As it grows, it needs to moult (shed its exoskeleton ). Its hard cuticle splits and its body expands, while the new exoskeleton is still soft. The stages between moulting are called instars and

8588-432: The field data, satellite imagery, weather predictions and model results to assess the current situation and forecast the timing, scale, and location of breeding and migration up to six weeks in advance. The situation assessments and forecasts are published in monthly locust bulletins that date back to the 1970s. These are supplemented by warnings and alerts to affected countries and the international community. This information

8701-545: The first time in those countries for 50 years. The cost of handling the infestation was put at US$ 122 million, and the damage to crops at up to $ 2.5 billion. The migratory locust ( Locusta migratoria ), sometimes classified into up to 10 subspecies, swarms in Africa, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand, but has become rare in Europe. In 2013, the Madagascan form of the migratory locust formed many swarms of over

8814-446: The fungus can take up to two weeks to kill up to 90% of the locusts. For that reason, it is recommended for use mainly against hoppers, the wingless early stages of locusts. These are mostly found in the desert, far from cropping areas, where the delay in death does not result in damage. The advantage of the product is that it affects only grasshoppers and locusts, which makes it much safer than chemical insecticides. Specifically, it allows

8927-760: The gregarious phase. The eyes are striated. The number of striae increases after each moult. Striations are only clearly visible in solitary individuals. Coloration - Nymph: Solitary nymphs are greenish or pale beige and may go through six instars. Gregarious nymphs are typically yellow, with a black head and pronotum, black lateral stripes on the abdomen and pass through five instars. First instar gregarious nymphs are almost entirely black. Adults: Immature solitary adults are sandy, pale grey or beige in colour; this colouration evolves to pale yellow in mature male adults and to pale beige with brown patterns in mature females. Immature gregarious adults are pink/reddish in colour, changing to bright yellow in mature males; in mature females

9040-546: The ground feeding and resting, moving on when the vegetation is exhausted. They may then fly a considerable distance before settling in a location where transitory rainfall has caused a green flush of new growth. Several species of grasshoppers swarm as locusts in different parts of the world, on all continents except Antarctica: For example, the Australian plague locust ( Chortoicetes terminifera ) swarms across Australia. The desert locust ( Schistocerca gregaria )

9153-462: The ground or air, but newer biological control methods are proving effective. Swarming behaviour decreased in the 20th century, but despite modern surveillance and control methods, swarms can still form; when suitable weather conditions occur and vigilance lapses, plagues can occur. Locusts are large insects and convenient for research and classroom study of zoology. They are edible by humans . They have been eaten throughout history and are considered

9266-646: The guts and head, while locusts were swallowed whole by Bedouins. Syrians, Copts, Greeks, Armenians, and other Christians and Arabs themselves reported that in Arabia locusts were eaten frequently and one Arab described to a European traveler the different types of locusts which were favored as food by Arabs. Persians use the Anti-Arab racial slur Arabe malakh-khor ( Persian : عرب ملخ خور , literally "locust eater Arab") against Arabs. Locusts yield about five times more edible protein per unit of fodder than cattle, and produce lower levels of greenhouse gases in

9379-446: The insects may have been some compensation. By the early 20th century, efforts were made to disrupt the development of the insects by cultivating the soil where eggs were laid, collecting hoppers with catching machines, killing them with flamethrowers, trapping them in ditches, and crushing them with rollers and other mechanical methods. By the 1950s, the organochloride dieldrin was found to be an extremely effective insecticide, but it

9492-416: The insects or vegetation. The use of ultralow-volume spraying of contact pesticides from aircraft in overlapping swathes is effective against nomadic bands and can be used to treat large areas of land swiftly. Other modern technologies for planning locust control include GPS , GIS tools , and satellite imagery with rapid computer data management and analysis. A biological pesticide to control locusts

9605-463: The interior of Saudi Arabia and southern Iran, and southwest to the interior of Yemen. Both areas received good rains, including heavy flooding in southwest Iran (the worst in 50 years), that allowed another two generations of breeding to take place. While control operations were mounted against the northern movement and subsequent breeding, very little could be done in Yemen due to the ongoing conflict. As

9718-429: The large and often remote areas (16–30 million square kilometres (6.2–11.6 million square miles)) where locusts can be found. Undeveloped basic infrastructure in some affected countries, limited resources for locust monitoring and control, and political turmoil within and between affected countries further reduce the capacity of a country to undertake the necessary monitoring and control activities. At present,

9831-407: The later instars tends to be greenish or brownish to match the colour of their surrounding vegetation. The adults fly at night and are also coloured so as to blend into their surroundings, the immature adults being grey or beige and the mature adults being a pale yellowish colour. In the gregarious phase, the hoppers bunch together and in the later instars develop a bold colouring with black markings on

9944-968: The livelihoods of affected rural communities, particularly the poorest. Added to this damage is the cost of control operations implemented to protect crops, which also help to stop the spread of the invasion, which could otherwise continue for many years and over larger areas. Furthermore, the damage is not limited to crops, but must also include the multiple social and environmental consequences of invasions, which are now better understood and taken into account, even if they are difficult to estimate. Desert locusts consume an estimated equivalent of their body weight (2 g (0.07 oz)) each day in green vegetation. They are polyphagous and feed on leaves, shoots, flowers, fruit, seeds, stems, and bark. Nearly all crops and noncrop plants are eaten, including pearl millet , maize , sorghum , barley , rice , pasture grasses, sugarcane , cotton , fruit trees, date palms , banana plants, vegetables, and weeds. Crop loss from locusts

10057-409: The locust breeding area from West Africa to India. This is supplemented by sub-seasonal and seasonal temperature and rainfall predictions up to six months in advance as well as other weather forecasts and data from NOAA and ECMWF . Models are used to estimate egg and hopper development rates and swarm trajectories (NOAA HYSPLIT ) and dispersion (UK Met Office NAME ). DLIS uses a custom GIS to analyze

10170-465: The natural enemies of locusts and grasshoppers to continue their beneficial work. These include birds, parasitoid and predatory wasps , parasitoid flies , and certain species of beetles . Though natural enemies cannot prevent plagues, they can limit the frequency of outbreaks and contribute to their control. Biopesticides are also safer to use in environmentally sensitive areas such as national parks or near rivers and other water bodies. Green Muscle

10283-645: The near future. In Australia, this service is provided by the Australian Plague Locust Commission . It has been very successful in dealing with developing outbreaks, but has the great advantage of having a defined area to monitor and defend without locust invasions from elsewhere. In Central and Southern Africa, the service is provided by the International Locust Control Organization for Central and Southern Africa. In West and Northwest Africa,

10396-628: The northern states of India where a few reached the Himalayan foothills in Nepal. In response to the upsurge, the Director-General of FAO declared a Level 3 corporate-wide emergency, the highest level in the UN system, on 17 January 2020 and appealed for immediate international assistance to rapidly upscale monitoring and control activities in the Horn of Africa. One month later, Somalia declared

10509-565: The population locally was blamed on locusts, and may have been caused by an increase in numbers of rats (and their fleas ) that devoured the locust carcasses. During the last two millennia, desert locust plagues have appeared sporadically in Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. Other species of locusts caused havoc in North and South America, Asia, and Australasia; in China, 173 outbreaks over 1924 years. The Bombay locust ( Nomadacris succincta )

10622-425: The primary method of controlling desert locust infestations is with insecticides applied in small, concentrated doses by vehicle-mounted and aerial sprayers at ultra-low volume rates of application. The insecticide is acquired by the insect directly, meaning that control must be precise. Control is undertaken by government agencies in locust-affected countries or by specialized regional aerial organizations such as

10735-517: The process. The feed conversion rate of orthopterans is 1.7 kg/kg, while for beef it is typically about 10 kg/kg. The protein content in fresh weight is between 13 and 28 g / 100 g for adult locust, 14–18 g / 100 g for larvae, as compared to 19–26 g / 100 g for beef. The calculated protein efficiency ratio is low, with 1.69 for locust protein compared to 2.5 for standard casein. A serving of 100 g of desert locust provides 11.5 g of fat, 53.5% of which

10848-686: The region. Despite the control efforts, good rains continued to fall and breeding occurred again during the summer and autumn in Ethiopia and Somalia that led to another invasion of Kenya in December 2020, which was eventually brought under control by spring 2021. Again, unexpected rains fell in late April and early May, this time further north that allowed substantial breeding to occur in eastern Ethiopia and northern Somalia in May and June 2021. New swarms formed in June and July that moved to northeast Ethiopia for

10961-429: The region. The 2019–2021 upsurge caused similar losses in northeast Africa, the Near East, and southwest Asia. The desert locust is a species of orthopteran in the family Acrididae, subfamily Cyrtacanthacridinae. There are two subspecies, one called Schistocerca gregaria gregaria , the better known and of huge economic importance, located north of the equator, and the other, Schistocerca gregaria flaviventris , which has

11074-467: The sale of animals at very low prices to meet household subsistence needs and to buy feed for remaining animals, early transhumance of herds and high tensions between transhumant herders and local farmers, and significant human migration to urban areas (sometimes fatal for the elderly, the weak and young children). Other economic consequences can occur during harvest, as cereals can be contaminated with insect parts and downgraded to feed grains that are sold at

11187-438: The second instar . They soon form bands of many thousands of individuals. These groups behave like cohesive units and move across the landscape, mostly downhill, but making their way around barriers and merging with other bands. The attraction between the insects involves visual and olfactory cues. The bands seem to navigate using the sun. They pause to feed at intervals before continuing on, and may cover tens of kilometres over

11300-772: The service is co-ordinated by the Food and Agriculture Organization 's Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in the Western Region, and executed by locust control agencies belonging to each country concerned. The FAO monitors the situation in the Caucasus and Central Asia, where over 25 million hectares of cultivated land are under threat. In February 2020, in an effort to end massive locust outbreaks, India decided to use drones and special equipment to monitor locusts and spray insecticides. Historically, people could do little to protect their crops from locusts, although eating

11413-418: The soil via decomposition by micro-organisms and fungi, absorbed by plants, increasing net ecosystem productivity and ecosystem nutrient cycling through rapid mineralization rates of nitrogen and carbon. Early warning and preventive control is the strategy adopted by locust-affected countries in Africa and Asia to try to stop locust plagues from developing and spreading. In the 1920s-1930s, locust control became

11526-405: The spread of grasslands at the time. Study of literature shows how pervasive plagues of locusts were over the course of history. The insects arrived unexpectedly, often after a change of wind direction or weather, and the consequences were devastating. The Ancient Egyptians carved locusts on tombs in the period 2470 to 2220 BC. A devastating plague in Egypt is mentioned in the Book of Exodus in

11639-472: The text to mean ascetic vegetarian food such as carob beans , but the plain meaning of the Greek akrides is locust. The Torah prohibits the use of most insects as food, but it permits consuming certain types of locust; specifically, those that are red, yellow, or spotted grey. Islamic jurisprudence deems eating locusts to be halal . The Prophet Muhammad was reported to have eaten locusts during

11752-505: The understanding and control of locusts. Swarming behaviour is a response to overcrowding. Increased tactile stimulation of the hind legs causes an increase in levels of serotonin. This causes the locust to change colour, eat much more, and breed much more easily. The transformation of the locust to the swarming form is induced by several contacts per minute over a four-hour period. A large swarm can consist of billions of locusts spread out over an area of thousands of square kilometres, with

11865-401: The wings, stiffening them. Maturation can occur in 2–4 weeks when the food supply and weather conditions are suitable but may take as long as 6 months when they are less ideal. Males start maturing first and give off an odour that stimulates maturation in the females. On maturing, the insects turn yellow and the abdomens of the females start swelling with developing eggs. Desert locusts have

11978-424: The world consume insects , and locusts are considered a delicacy in many African, Middle Eastern, and Asian countries. They can be cooked in many ways, but are often fried, smoked, or dried. The Bible records that John the Baptist ate locusts and wild honey ( Greek : ἀκρίδες καὶ μέλι ἄγριον , romanized :  akrídes kaì méli ágrion ) while living in the wilderness. Attempts have been made to explain

12091-406: The yellow is less bright, mainly on the upper parts of the body, with the lower parts being more of a pale beige. The hindwings are transparent or light yellow. The lifecycle of the desert locust consists of three stages, the egg, the nymph known as a hopper, and the winged adult. Copulation takes place when a mature male hops onto the back of a mature female and grips her body with his legs. Sperm

12204-506: Was a major pest in India and southeastern Asia in the 18th and 19th centuries, but has seldom swarmed since the last plague in 1908. In the spring of 1747 locusts arrived outside Damascus eating the majority of the crops and vegetation of the surrounding countryside. One local barber, Ahmad al-Budayri, recalled the locusts "came like a black cloud. They covered everything: the trees and the crops. May God Almighty save us!" The extinction of

12317-570: Was developed under the LUBILOSA programme, which was initiated in 1989 in response to environmental concerns over the heavy use of chemical insecticides to control locusts and grasshoppers during the 1987-89 plague. The project focused on the use of beneficial disease-causing microorganisms ( pathogens ) as biological control agents for grasshoppers and locusts. These insects were considered to be too mobile and to reproduce too fast to be readily controlled by classical biological control. Pathogens have

12430-682: Was instrumental in setting up the Anti-Locust Research Centre . He made his discoveries during his studies of the migratory locust in the Caucasus , whose solitary and gregarious phases had previously been thought to be separate species ( Locusta migratoria and L. danica L.). He designated the two phases as solitaria and gregaria . These are called statary and migratory morphs , though strictly speaking, their swarms are nomadic rather than migratory . Charles Valentine Riley and Norman Criddle were involved in achieving

12543-399: Was later banned in most countries because of its persistence in the environment and its accumulation in the food chain . In years when locust control is needed, the hoppers are targeted early by applying water-based contact pesticides from tractor-based sprayers. This is effective but slow and labour-intensive; a preferable method is spraying concentrated insecticide from aircraft over

12656-487: Was noted in the Bible and Qur'an ; these insects have been documented as contributing to the severity of a number of Ethiopian famines . Since the early 20th century, desert locust plagues occurred in 1926–1934, 1940–1948, 1949–1963, 1967–1969, 1987–1989, 2003–2005, and 2019–2020. In March–October 1915, a plague of locusts stripped Ottoman Palestine of almost all vegetation. The significant crop loss caused by swarming desert locusts exacerbates problems of food shortage, and

12769-484: Was tested across Africa by a multinational team in 1997. Dried fungal spores of a Metarhizium acridum sprayed in breeding areas pierce the locust exoskeleton on germination and invade the body cavity, causing death. The fungus is passed from insect to insect and persists in the area, making repeated treatments unnecessary. This approach to locust control was used in Tanzania in 2009 to treat around 10,000 hectares in

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