Our world is amazingly beautiful. He's rich a variety of plants, animals, insects. Some individuals seem to be created in order to please a person’s gaze, to give joy from realizing the beauty of certain forms of life. However, there is no day without night. There are creatures in the world that not only have a frightening appearance, but also bring harm to humans through their vital activity. Locust insect - clear example similar creation. How dangerous are they?
Locust insect: description
Locusts and the so-called locusts together form a single superfamily - locusts. This is the first most numerous group belonging to the order. If you compare the locust with its closest relatives, grasshoppers, you will notice that it has shorter antennae, its hearing organs have an unusual specificity, and the female has a shorter ovipositor. Most orthopteran insects are natural “musicians” of the natural world. The locust insect is no exception.
Where does this pest live? Russia is home to about six hundred species of locusts, which mostly terrorize southern regions countries. During the day, its chirping drowns out the singing of grasshoppers, due to the large flock. The apparatus that allows the locust to produce a melody is located on the thighs of the hind legs, as well as on the elytra. On the inner part of the thigh there is a sequence of tubercles. The vein here is seriously thickened. Making accelerated movements of the thigh, the insect touches it with tubercles, which leads to intermittent chirping. The locust's hearing organs are located on the sides of the first abdominal segment. In some species, the lower wings are colored bright colors. In case of danger, the locust takes off sharply and scares away the enemy with a loud song and colorful colors.
What do locusts eat?
The locust insect, unlike its relatives - grasshoppers, feeds exclusively on plants, not disdaining agricultural crops. This pest has a truly brutal appetite. It eats all the plants it comes across on its way. If a swarm of locusts reaches the fields where a person grows corn, grain and other crops, the region under the terror of the insect may suffer from famine.
In a day, an adult locust eats vegetation equal in weight to its own body. Over the course of its life, it can destroy more than three hundred grams of green mass. The offspring left by one female locust eats enough food to feed two sheep during one summer. Swarms of the pest can easily destroy thousands of hectares of crops in a few hours.
Types of locusts
Harmful insect species are usually divided into gregarious individuals and solitary individuals. On South Russian Federation The most common migratory insect is the locust. A photo of this pest can be found in any biological encyclopedia. Locusts live very hidden. During mass reproduction, it groups the larvae into one large aggregation, called a swarm. Sometimes its area is simply huge. If many larvae hatch in one area, they immediately begin migrating. Otherwise, they remain in place and lead a sedentary, solitary lifestyle.
Swarms of locusts
In the fifties of the twentieth century in North Africa, people noticed a huge swarm of locusts, the length of which reached two hundred and fifty kilometers and a width of twenty. In previous centuries, there were known cases when hordes of this insect reached Europe. Some flocks numbered forty billion individuals. They accumulate in so-called flying clouds. Their area is sometimes equal to thousands of square kilometers.
The wings of an insect rub during flight - a creaking sound is heard. When a cloud of millions of individuals passes by, the noise it makes is mistaken for thunder. The locust insect, accumulating into adult swarms, can travel about one hundred kilometers a day. Flying at a speed of fifteen kilometers per hour. There have been recorded cases in history when small swarms of locusts traveled across the ocean, covering a distance of almost six thousand kilometers.
How do locusts reproduce?
The locust insect reproduces using its shortened ovipositor. As a rule, the female of this pest lays eggs directly into the ground. It secretes a liquid mass that resembles glue. Organic matter hardens over time. Using it, the insect cements pieces of soil around future pests. A so-called egg capsule is formed - a durable cocoon for eggs with hard walls. If the “population density” of insects becomes too high, the locusts gather in a swarm and fly away from their habitat. In this way, she “unloads” the field, which is no longer able to feed all the individuals living on it.
The locust is an insect that unites several species and represents the true locust family. Another name for the species is locusts.
Locusts usually form giant swarms of several million individuals. The damage that causes this type insects to crops cannot be compared with anything. Locusts can destroy all plants in their path.
Information about these insects is reflected in the Bible; chroniclers mentioned them in their works. Locust plagues have always been a universal disaster. Countless hordes of these insects destroyed the crops, which inevitably led to mass starvation. However, appearance insect, does not correspond to the terrible consequences caused by them. It is interesting that some types of locusts have been eaten by people for a long time.
Appearance of locusts
The insect's body length is 6 cm. Typically, locusts have a greenish-brown color, but the color may differ from one individual to another.
It can be completely brown or green. Basically, the color of an insect depends on its age. The older the locust, the darker its color.
Locusts “sweeping away” the crop. The insect has a large head and thread-like, short antennae. The locust has powerful jaws; they are closed on top by a process of the pronotum. The elytra are covered with dark spots. The insect has transparent lower wings, greenish in color, which fold like a fan. The inside of the limbs is covered with multi-colored spots. Female locusts are larger than males; at the end of their abdomen they have 2 pairs of ovipositor hooks protruding forward.
Locusts are insects harmful to agriculture. Locust behavior and reproduction
This type of insect has in its life cycle two phases: gregarious and solitary. Both phases have the same development period. First the egg appears, then the larva, the last cycle is the adult.
The females of this insect species lay their eggs in the ground. After some time, larvae emerge from the eggs. The larvae molt several times and after the final moult they develop wings. The imago stage begins. Experts distinguish 5 transformations of the larva.
The solitary phase of locust life occurs during periods when there is an abundance of food around. At the filly's single stage There is protective coloration and sexual dimorphism can be observed. At times when food is scarce, usually in dry and hot years, the female lays a large number of eggs From them emerge larvae that are already programmed for the gregarious phase of life. From such larvae, it is not fillies that are born, but real locusts. It differs from fillies in having a brighter and more contrasting color and a larger size of wings and body.
At this stage, the locusts gather in huge swarms and move, as if on command, in one direction. The weight of insects in such clusters can reach several thousand tons. The locusts destroy all vegetation that is encountered along the way. In this regard, agricultural land may be severely damaged, which can lead to famine. Since ancient times, regions such as the African continent, Australia, southern Asia, America, where the largest locust invasion occurred, have been subject to locust invasions.
According to some reports, these voracious insects were able to cross the Atlantic. It turns out that even the waters of the ocean cannot be a barrier to hordes of locusts. If the wind is fair, insects can cover 500 km in a day. The largest swarm of locusts that could be counted contained 12.5 trillion individuals. This huge swarm covered an area of the earth of 513 thousand km. Such an incredible amount of insects weighed 27.5 million tons.
Locusts in the distant past were humanity's enemy No. 1, but modern people little has been heard about her. Meanwhile, it is described in ancient Egyptian papyri, the Bible, the Koran, works of the Middle Ages, artistic XIX literature century. It's time to learn more about the insect, whose name in past centuries served as the personification of a humanitarian catastrophe.
Migratory locust (Locusta migratoria).
The first thing that should be said is that the locust is not one species, but an entire superfamily in the order Orthoptera, uniting relatively large jumping insects. Their closest relatives are grasshoppers (unlike locusts, they never form mass aggregations), and slightly more distant relatives are true grasshoppers and crickets.
The appearance of the locust is also typically “grasshopper”: an elongated body with long legs bent at the knees, a relatively large head with large eyes, a pair of hard elytra and a pair of transparent wings, completely invisible when folded, but opening, like a dragonfly, when flying. In addition to everything, the locust has an excellent ear for music (its auditory openings are located on the abdomen) and special devices for making sounds. The latter include serrations on the femora and thickened veins on the elytra. When the locust runs its thigh along the elytra, a loud chirping of varying tones is heard.
If the locust looks like a grasshopper and chirps like a grasshopper, then how is it different from it? And the main and most reliable feature that allows you to accurately distinguish a locust from a grasshopper is the length of the antennae: in grasshoppers they are often equal to the length of the body, but in locusts, on the contrary, the antennae never exceed half of its length.
In some species of locust, the crown of the head is elongated and, together with the antennae, forms a narrow cone, while the contours of the body merge with the elongated leaves of the cereals on which this insect usually feeds.
Sexual dimorphism in these insects manifests itself differently even within the same species: in the solitary phase, males and females differ in the color of their integument, but in the gregarious phase these differences are not pronounced. In general, the color different types locusts can be very different - bright green, yellow, brown of all possible shades, gray and even blue-red. But whatever the color of the individuals, it is always more or less similar to the color of the plants or soil on which this species is found. Thus, the coloring of locusts is of a camouflage nature. It is also noteworthy that the color of a single form of locust is determined not by genes, as is the case in most other animals, but by the environment. In other words, whatever environment the locust larva sees around itself, that’s the color it will grow. Even in the offspring of the same pair, individuals of dissimilar colors can be obtained if they are grown on different substrates.
The excellent camouflage of the Italian locust (Calliptamus italicus) does not work only during flight, when bright pink spots at the base of the wings become noticeable.
The locusts mature at record speed; the insects mate within 4-10 days after the last molt. The female then plunges her long ovipositor into the ground and lays 300 to 1200 eggs. At the same time, a whitish liquid is released from the ovipositor, which quickly hardens. This peculiar " polyurethane foam» securely seals the egg capsule. If the laying is done in an area with cold winters, then during frosts the development of eggs is suspended and in this state overwintering occurs, and the larvae appear in the spring. In warm regions, development proceeds without delay and lasts about 14-16 days. The hatched larvae look like worms, which is an adaptation to living in the soil. However, this nursery period of their life lasts only a few hours. The larvae, wriggling, crawl upward and, as soon as they reach the surface, they immediately molt. Second instar larvae (nymphs) look like adults, but they are still wingless and have a slightly shortened body and antennae. With subsequent molts, they acquire the rudiments of wings, enlarge and lengthen, reaching “adulthood” in just 40 days. Adults (imago) die after laying eggs.
Section of soil with a locust egg capsule: oblong eggs are visible below, and above is a passage sealed with the foamy secretions of the female.
The total range of all locust species is quite wide and covers the dry tropics, subtropics, as well as the warmest areas middle zone. These insects can be found on all continents except Antarctica and North America. However, on the last continent the lack of native species is more than compensated for by the damage caused by migratory locusts brought from the Old World. As for Eurasia, here the northern border of locust distribution runs through the Central Russian Upland and Western Siberia, however, in these areas, population outbreaks are extremely rare and never take on catastrophic proportions.
For the first time in their lives, molted locust nymphs emerge from their nest hidden in the ground.
Without exception, all types of locusts are inhabitants of open spaces, which is explained by their diet. The fact is that these insects prefer to eat cereals, which are mostly light-loving. However, the habitats of different species can vary significantly. On this basis, locust species are usually divided into two groups. Some species clearly gravitate towards areas covered with dense and uniform grass cover, and therefore live in meadows, steppes, savannas and reed thickets along the banks of water bodies. Others prefer areas with a bare surface, dotted with rare shrubs and tufts of grass, and therefore are found in deserts and semi-deserts, foothills and rocky outcrops.
The surprising thing is that by nature locusts are... harmless. IN normal conditions These insects lead a solitary lifestyle and cause no more damage to vegetation than the beloved grasshoppers. But unlike the latter, locusts can undergo a radical restructuring of instincts, biochemical processes and physiology. The trigger for change is hunger. While grasshoppers live predominantly in moderately humid places rich in vegetation, locusts, which are attached to dry biotopes, often face seasonal food shortages or cyclical droughts, which are not uncommon in steppes and semi-deserts. When the food supply is critically depleted, insects, willy-nilly, are forced to concentrate on areas where at least some grass remains. This is where the fun begins!
Many nymphs sitting nearby touch each other with their legs; from frequent contact, their nerve cells are excited and begin to secrete hormones. Under their influence, the larvae change color, but not to a camouflage color, but to a special one - the same for all! For example, at migratory locust the migratory form is black and yellow, although adult solitary individuals are often green. These colors are similar to uniforms, which unmistakably allow soldiers to distinguish friend from foe on the battlefield. Thanks to the inclusions of dark color, the bodies of the nymphs are heated by the sun more than usual, their temperature rises, their breathing quickens, and they become more mobile. In younger larvae, the crowding instincts intensify, and they form even denser clusters - swarms. Older larvae begin to move in one direction, but since their wings are underdeveloped, this movement still looks like walking. However, swarms of locusts even at this stage look quite threatening and unpleasant, because in some places the insects can form a layer up to 10 cm thick. During the entire period of the campaign, they are able to move a distance of up to 30 km; even rivers are not able to stop the marching swarm, because nymphs that cannot fly swim perfectly. The last molt does its job: the larvae gain wings and turn into migrating adults. At a certain moment, the entire flock rises into the air - the flying armada is ready to invade!
Nymphs of the Schistocerca gregaria march through the Negev Desert (Israel).
Typically, a swarm of locusts flies at a speed of 10-15 km/h at an altitude of up to 600 m, although individual swarms have been observed at altitudes from 2 to 6 km. Calm or weak winds are most favorable for flight; during strong gusts, the locust sits on the ground and waits out the unfavorable weather. Insects prefer to fly during daylight hours with short stops to feed, but sometimes the flight can continue at night. In one day, a flying flock can cover 80-120 km, and during the entire migration period it moves hundreds and thousands of kilometers. Historically, centers of mass reproduction are Northern and Central Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Iran, Pakistan, northern India, and Afghanistan. From these arid regions, swarms of locusts fly to where there is more moisture and food: from North-West Africa - to the Iberian Peninsula (in some cases they even flew to England), from Central Africa - to Egypt, from the Arabian Peninsula - to the Middle East, from Central Asia - to Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, to the south of Russia.
A swarm of locusts flies over the Astrakhan region.
In describing locust raids, all literary sources are extremely unanimous. The raid always begins suddenly and to the observer it looks like a black cloud on the horizon, approaching with an ominous rustle. As the “cloud” approaches, it becomes clear that it is heterogeneous, and now hordes of insects are filling the entire space around. The locusts fly so densely that it is impossible to dodge them: the insects get into the face and mouth, crawl along the arms, fall to the ground, crunch underfoot, and the surviving individuals take off again. In a matter of minutes they eclipse the sun, cover the ground, buildings, trees, domestic animals with a continuous layer, vehicles, penetrate into all the cracks, clog into houses.
Pack small size, as in this photograph, numbers between 40 and 50 million individuals.
Each individual tries to bite off what it sits on. It should be especially noted here that adult migrating locusts are distinguished by amazing omnivorousness, which is not characteristic of nymphs and solitary adults. Therefore, the swooping locusts eat all the vegetation they see. First of all, bread, melons and industrial crops suffer from it - these delicacies go to the vanguard of the flock. But since the raid can last from several hours to a couple of days, those who arrived later pounce on everything that the pioneers had not eaten: fruit trees, weeds, food and textiles plant origin. During this feast, noise from the movement of many jaws is heard everywhere. Each insect absorbs about 300 g of food during its life - it doesn’t seem like much, but if you consider that swarms of locusts number in the millions and billions of individuals, then the scale of losses in agriculture is simply colossal. When the flock flies away, the place of the feast turns into lifeless land, on which the bare remains of trees stick out like sad monuments to human grief.
Due to their fecundity and early maturation, locusts are often the subject of laboratory research.
It is noteworthy that one of the oldest descriptions of locusts is given in the Bible, where they are succinctly mentioned as one of the “ten plagues of Egypt.” Its invasions often led to an acute shortage of food and feed and, as a consequence, to famine, loss of livestock, and a weakening of the military and economic power of entire states. On top of that, locust swarms were associated with the spread of “pestilences,” including the plague. Scientists deny such a connection, because locusts are not carriers of plague bacilli, but the answer can be found in reports from the 17th-19th centuries. The chroniclers of these centuries were more talkative than biblical scholars and left us a description of an interesting detail - unpleasant odor, which accompanied the locust raids. The source of the smell was not living insects, but the corpses of those that were crushed and died a natural death after laying eggs. Since one swarm of locusts could number billions of individuals, such an accumulation of decaying biomass attracted flies and rats, which were precisely the carriers of infections.
One of the largest locust raids on the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott in 2012 was associated with the overthrow of Gaddafi in neighboring Libya - in the revolution-stricken country they stopped paying attention to the fight against this pest.
It is not surprising that people perceived locust plagues as the ultimate punishment sent by God. In ancient times, they were completely unable to resist such a disaster, and since the Middle Ages, attempts have been made to hold back the advance: they tried to scare off the locusts with smoke and sulfur, lit fire barriers in the path of the walking swarms, crushed them with their feet and hooves of cattle, and beat them with everything they could get their hands on. In the 20th century, vacuum cleaners and flamethrowers were added to these methods. But the multitude of locusts overpowered everything.
Some species of locusts have wings completely covered with patterns so that they resemble the wings of a butterfly.
The example of Ukraine is very indicative, where in past centuries locusts were a common insect in the south of the country. It multiplied in reed beds in the Dnieper delta, from where it made devastating raids on the agricultural central regions, sometimes reaching Poland and Lithuania. After the plowing of virgin steppes and the introduction of crop rotation, many eggs began to die during cultivation, and now locusts are rare here.
Reed beds in deltas of large rivers are natural reservoirs where locusts hatch. This photo shows the formation of a flock.
An even more impressive example is the Rocky Mountain locust ( Melanoplus spretus). This is the only native locust species in North America, whose breeding grounds were at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, and from where it raided the plains states of Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri and Minnesota. American farmers were unable to defeat these hordes until the foothills were plowed, as a result of which these locusts... became extinct!
However, this is the only type of locust that has suffered such a fate - all the others are quite prosperous and numerous. Outside of agricultural areas, these insects play a significant role in ecosystems, as they serve as food for many species of birds and animals: guinea fowl, partridges, small falcons, kites, secretary birds, ravens, crows, bustards, meerkats, wild pigs, warthogs. There have often been cases of locusts being eaten by herbivorous ungulates, but researchers differ in their assessment of this phenomenon. Some say that wild antelopes and livestock readily take advantage of such random feeding, while others testify that livestock deaths have been reported after eating locusts.
The stony phymateus (Phymateus saxosus), native to Madagascar, is poisonous due to the toxic sap of the milkweeds on which it feeds.
By the way, the Bible reveals to us another curious fact: in the Gospel of Matthew it is mentioned that John the Baptist, living as a hermit in the desert, ate locusts and wild honey. Few people guess what kind of locusts these are? And this is nothing more than locusts. The abundance of these insects in the Middle East has long prompted people to find them at least some useful application, therefore, the ancient Jews and Arabs often ate locusts, especially during their raids. It no longer occupies such a prominent place in modern Middle Eastern cuisine, but is a common product in China and Thailand.
Locust tissues contain practically no fat, but are rich in protein and minerals, which puts them in the category dietary products. Culinary value The high calorie content also adds to it. The methods of preparing these insects have not changed over many centuries. Most often, caught locusts are boiled until softened, and then fried in oil with salt and spices; if they want to store them for future use, then after boiling the insects are dried, sprinkled with salt. Locusts cooked this way become crispy and taste like a cross between chicken and potato chips (or roasted chestnuts).
It is sold by weight or strung on sticks; before consumption, it is customary to tear off the hard legs, wings and head of the locust.
Class: Insects - Insecta
Squad: Orthoptera – Orthoptera
Family: True locusts - Acrididae
Genus: – Locusta
Migratory locust or Asian locust(Locusta migratoria L.) is a polyphagous pest found in Asia, northern Africa and southern Europe.
Morphology of migratory locusts
The insect is large, has a body measuring 30-50 mm, females are slightly larger - 45-55 mm. Body color is brown-green, gray-green, brown-olive. The elytra are oblong, narrow, with a yellow tint or green in frequent dark spots or points. The wings are fan-shaped, wide, with a green or yellow tint, the edges of the wings are darkened, and at the top they are colorless. The chest is covered with light hairs.
There are two phases - solitary and gregarious. In the solitary phase, which is common in the northern regions of the range, the pronotum does not have a constriction in the middle, the middle carina is arched and high. In the gregarious form, living in the southern regions of the range, the pronotum is saddle-shaped, the middle carina is concave or straight. The capsule is slightly curved or straight, large in size (up to 85 mm in length and up to 10 mm in diameter). The egg capsule is a column of light pink secretion in which the female lays eggs. Each egg capsule contains 40-120 eggs yellow color, 7-8 mm in size, thin, narrowed at both ends. The eggs are arranged in four longitudinal rows, at an angle of 40-45° to the wall of the egg capsule. After laying, the upper side of the egg capsule is in the soil at a depth of 5-7 cm.
Life cycle of the Asian locust
The pest overwinters in the egg stage in a capsule. In May, larvae emerge from the eggs in a white film; after a couple of hours they darken and begin to feed on vegetation. In its development, the larva goes through five instars, each of which differs in the degree of development of the wing primordia and in the number of segments on the antennae. The adult locust actively feeds and 30-40 days after mating, the female migratory locust begins to lay eggs. Each female lays on average three egg capsules (up to 350 eggs). The adult dies in October.
The greatest activity of locusts occurs in the morning and evening.
As mentioned earlier, the Asian locust has gregarious and solitary phases. During the gregarious phase, the larvae unite and form clusters called bands. During the years of mass reproduction, swarms can occupy huge areas, up to a couple of thousand hectares, and fly long distances, up to 50 km, while the locusts eat everything in their path, often leaving behind empty pastures and fields. Migratory locust adults, uniting in swarms, can fly over distances of up to 300 km, and with a strong tailwind, up to 1000 km.
Outbreaks with mass reproduction of locusts last for several years. On average, the interval between population peaks is 10-15 years.
Locusts are a very dangerous pest, since both larvae and adults roughly eat leaves, stems and generative organs, which can completely destroy plants. One individual locust can eat up to 500 g of green plant matter.
The number of pests in different years reduce various pathogens that affect eggs in egg capsules, and entomophages that destroy larvae and adults.
Methods of protection against migratory locusts
Agrotechnical and organizational and economic control methods include autumn deep plowing, which will help get rid of the wintering form. It is also necessary to reduce possible egg-laying sites, that is, to develop virgin soil, improve forest belts, fight weeds not only in the field, but also beyond it, and get rid of plant residues.
Chemical method of combating migratory locusts
Treatment of large areas is carried out using aviation 20-30 minutes before sunrise, if the wind speed does not exceed 3 m/s. With evening pollination, less efficiency is observed.
To combat a single phase of locusts, poisoned baits are used. To prepare them, you need horse or sheep manure as bait, 12% hexachlorane dust at a rate of 200-400 g and 5-10 liters of water per 10 kg of manure. Baits can be introduced by aircraft, machines or manually.
Chemicals can be used to control the pest regardless of the time of year (from spring to autumn), but it is most effective to treat with insecticides in the spring, before sowing crops. The procedure is repeated a second time in case of a massive pest invasion.
Insecticides of the synthetic pyrethroid group are effective in the fight against migratory locusts: Fastak, Karate Zeon, Tsunami, Arrivo, Gladiator, Taran and others. When protecting against locusts, as a rule, take the maximum dosages allowed by the instructions of the drugs.
If there are older larvae, it is recommended to add organophosphorus insecticides (Fufanon, in an amount of 50% of the maximum dosage) to the solution.
During a locust invasion, the most effective drugs are imidacloprid-based - Confidor, Tanker, Image. They protect crops from pests for several weeks.
Dimilin (active ingredient Diflubenzuron 250 g/kg, wettable powder).
The uniqueness of this insecticide lies in its special mechanism of action: it inhibits the growth of insects - it stops the process of formation of chitin in the body of the larvae, as a result of which the molting process is disrupted and the death of the pest occurs.
The advantages of this drug are: low toxicity to humans, warm-blooded animals and beneficial insect fauna; rapid decomposition in water and soil; long aftereffect period (up to 40 days).
To protect against locusts, insecticide is applied when the pest is in the larval stage of development. The application rate of the drug is 0.14 kg/ha. Used in pastures, areas with wild vegetation, gardens and forest belts.
Migratory locust lays eggs photo
Migratory locust - Locusta migratoriaLocust video
Locust is a large arthropod insect from the family Acrididae (lat. Acrididae), part of the order Orthoptera, suborder Short-whiskered. In ancient times it was the main threat to crops cultivated plants. Descriptions of locusts are found in the Bible, the works of ancient Egyptian authors, the Koran and treatises of the Middle Ages.
Locust is a description of an insect.
The locust has an elongated body from 5 to 20 cm long with rear legs bent at the knees, significantly larger in size than the middle and front legs. Two rigid elytra cover a pair of translucent wings, which are difficult to notice when folded. Sometimes they are covered with various patterns. Locusts have shorter antennae than crickets or grasshoppers. The head is large, with large eyes. The sound of locusts is formed as follows: males have special notches located on the surface of the thighs, and special thickenings on the elytra. When they rub against each other, a specific chirping sound is heard, which has a different tonality.
Locust color depends not on genes, but on environment. Even individuals from the same offspring who grew up in different conditions, will differ in color. In addition, the color of the protective covers of an insect depends on the phase of its development. For example, in a solitary stage of life, a male or female locust may have bright green, yellow, gray or brown camouflage coloring and pronounced sexual differences. During the transition to the gregarious phase, the coloration becomes the same for everyone, and sexual dimorphism is leveled out. Locusts fly very quickly: when flying, a swarm of locusts can cover a distance of up to 120 km in one day.
What is the difference between a locust and a grasshopper?
- The locust is an insect from the locust family, suborder short-whiskered, and grasshoppers are part of the grasshopper family, suborder long-whiskered.
- The locust's whiskers and legs are shorter than those of the grasshopper.
- Grasshoppers are predators, and locusts are herbivorous insects. Although sometimes during long flights a locust can eat a weakened individual of the same species.
- Locusts are active during the day, while grasshoppers are active at night.
- Locusts cause harm agriculture humans, unlike harmless grasshoppers.
- Locusts lay their eggs in the soil or leaves on the ground, and in the stems of plants or under the bark of trees.
Types of locusts, names and photographs.
(lat. Dociostaurus maroccanus)- a small insect, body length rarely exceeds 2 cm. The color of adult individuals is reddish-brown, with small dark spots scattered over the body and an unusual cross-shaped pattern light tone on the back. The hindquarters are pink or yellow on the thighs and red on the lower legs. Despite their miniature size, the Moroccan locust causes enormous damage to farmland and crops, gathering in numerous hordes and destroying absolutely everything that grows on the ground in its path. This type of locust lives in Africa, Central Asia and Algeria, sultry Egypt, arid Libya and Morocco. It is found in European countries, for example, in France, Portugal, Spain, Italy and even in the Balkans.
(lat. Locusta migratoria)- a rather large insect: the body length of mature males is from 3.5 to 5 cm, in females it ranges from 4-6 cm. The color of the Asian locust varies in several ways color solutions: there are individuals of bright green, brownish, yellow-green or gray. The wings are almost colorless, except for a slightly pronounced smoky tint and the finest black veins. The thighs of the hind legs are dark brown or blue-black, the lower legs may be beige, reddish or yellow. The habitat of this type of locust covers the entire territory of Europe, Asia Minor and Central Asia, the countries of North Africa, the region of Northern China and Korea. The Asian locust also lives in the south of Russia, and is found in the Caucasus, in the mountains of Kazakhstan, and in the south of Western Siberia.
(lat.Schistocerca gregaria) - an insect with a fairly large size - females reach a size of 8 cm, males are slightly smaller - 6 cm in length. The color of the desert locust is dirty yellow, the wings are brown, with many veins. The hind limbs are bright yellow. This type of locust prefers to live in the tropics and subtropics: it is found in North Africa, on the Arabian Peninsula, on the territory of Hindustan and the border regions of the Sahara.
Italian locust or Prus Italianus (lat. Calliptamus italicus). The body of an adult locust of this species is medium in size: in males, the body length varies from 1.4 to 2.8 cm, females can reach 4 cm in length. The wings are powerful, highly developed, with sparse veins. The colors of individuals are multifaceted: brick-red, brown, brown, sometimes pale pink tones predominate in the color. Light longitudinal stripes and whitish spots are often visible on the main background. The hind wings and thighs of the hind limbs are pinkish, the lower legs are red or whitish, with transverse stripes of black or dark brown. The habitat of the Italian locust covers almost the entire Mediterranean zone and a significant part of Western Asia. The Italian locust lives in central Europe and Western Siberia, and lives in Altai, Iran and Afghanistan.
Rainbow Locust (lat. Phymateus saxosus)- a type of locust that lives on the island of Madagascar. Incredibly bright in color and very poisonous, the rainbow locust reaches a size of 7 cm. The entire body of the insect shimmers with the most different colors– from bright yellow to purple, blue and red, and saturated with toxins. They are produced due to the fact that locusts feed exclusively poisonous plants. Typically, large populations of this species of locust are found in the foliage of trees or in thickets of milkweed, the juice of which is a favorite delicacy of the rainbow locust.
Siberian filly (lat. Gomphocerus sibiricus)- an insect of brown-brown, olive or gray-green color. The size of an adult female does not exceed 2.5 cm, males are rarely larger than 2.3 cm. The habitat is very wide: the Siberian filly lives in the mountainous areas of Central Asia and the Caucasus, is found in Mongolia and northeast China, and feels comfortable in northern regions of Russia, in particular in Siberia and northern Kazakhstan. The insect causes widespread damage to grain crops, pastures and hayfields.
Egyptian filly (lat. Anacridium aegyptium)- one of the largest locust species found in Europe. Females grow up to 6.5-7 cm in length, males are somewhat more modest in size - 30-55 mm. The color of the insect can be gray, light brown or greenish-olive. Hind legs of blue color, and the thighs are bright orange, with distinctive black markings. The eyes of the Egyptian filly always have pronounced black and white stripes. This type of locust lives in the Middle East, European countries, and North Africa.
Blue-winged filly (lat. Oedipoda caerulescens)- medium-sized locusts: the length of an adult female is 2.2-2.8 cm, the male is slightly smaller - 1.5-2.1 cm in length. The filly's wings are very spectacular - bright blue at the base, becoming colorless towards the top. On the surface of the graceful wings there is a beautiful pattern consisting of the thinnest radial stripes of black color. The tibiae of the hind limbs are bluish in color and covered with light spines. The blue-winged filly is widespread in the steppe and forest-steppe regions Eurasia, lives in the Caucasus and Central Asia, found in Western Siberia and China.
