The locust insect lives everywhere, with the exception of the Far North and Antarctica. You can meet him in a forest clearing, in a city park, in a ditch by the side of the road, in a vegetable garden. In its own way, this is a unique creature in which two development programs are genetically embedded. While the locust lives as a hermit, unaware of its own kind, it is completely harmless. But as soon as she sees her closest relatives, the spirit of collectivism awakens in her. Insects unite in numerous swarms and cause devastating damage to farmers.
WHAT DOES IT EAT?
Locusts usually live on the leaves and flowers of green plants. They use their strong upper mandibles to gnaw leaves, and use their smaller, weaker mandibles to crush them.
Since the locusts' mandibles move from side to side, the insects usually sit in the center of the leaf, on its longitudinal axis, and gnaw the leaf from edge to edge. Only a few species of true locusts feed exclusively on grass. The food for most locust species is the leaves of perennial plants, shrubs and trees. Some species of locusts can even feed on poisonous plants that other insects and animals do not eat.
Concentrating in their body, the poison provides insects with protection from enemies, since they themselves become poisonous. These locusts have bright colors, which warns of their inedibility.
Nutrition
Locusts feed on many types of plants, and unfortunately for people, they also feed on agricultural crops. This insect has an excellent appetite and the locust can force people whose crops have come under its terror to suffer from hunger.
She eats a large amount of food per day, approximately equal to her own weight. And the offspring of one individual is enough to eat enough grass in a season to feed two sheep. Fields, vegetable gardens, forests, meadows - all this can be eaten by a swarm of locusts.
The photo shows a swarm of locusts
Sometimes locusts also attack orchards - for example, they will eat grapes, starting with the leaves and ending with the bark and berries. The vegetation of reeds, reeds, hemp, flax, buckwheat, cereals - all this is used as food for the locusts. In addition, if there is a lack of food, it can attack the thatched roofs of houses, and on a long journey without food, it can eat its weaker brothers.
SELF-DEFENSE
Many species of locusts that live in the humid tropics have warning colors. Bright or contrasting colors in which their body or wings are painted warn that the insect is poisonous. The body of such locusts contains poison that accumulates from the plants they feed on. If you touch such an insect, it emits foam that tastes and smells unpleasant.
Other types of locusts that do not have “chemical weapons” usually come in camouflage colors. The color of insects varies depending on their habitat, so the color of many of them is similar to leaves, blades of grass or pebbles. Some Central European locust species are able to blend almost completely into the background that surrounds them, making them almost impossible to notice. If such an insect is frightened, it immediately flies away, and before landing and becoming “invisible” again, it opens bright blue or red wings that scare away the enemy.
How to identify an insect?
In order to determine which superfamily an insect belongs to, it is necessary to know the description of its main body parts. Conventionally, it is divided into three parts - head, chest and abdomen. It is necessary to carefully examine and pay attention to the distinctive features of the insect, namely: the size, type and length of the antennae and limbs. To identify an individual, you can turn to an electronic identification guide, which will tell you how to correctly distinguish a grasshopper from a locust.
Tables for determination
The key consists of various tables in which the type of family members can be determined by complex external characteristics. Using these tables, you can easily identify the identity of the insect. The determinant indicates the characteristic features with the assignment of numbers. Numbers in brackets indicate opposite features. You can conduct a visual inspection of the insect and follow from one sign to another. For example, the presence of a mustache or other features.
By looking for external features, you can achieve your goal - to determine the species. Next to the name in Latin there will be an inscription with the name of the family in Russian. By clicking on the link, you can see a color image of the insect and specify the name. If the data that you found in the key matches the external characteristics of the insect, then the identification of the species of the individual (locust or grasshopper) can be considered successful.
Thus, it is not so difficult to correctly distinguish a pest from a predator found in a garden plot. Knowing the structural features of the body will help determine the species. If in doubt, you can use an electronic identifier to help identify the insect.
LIFESTYLE
Locusts inhabit all those regions where there are at least a small number of plants. Only an ignorant person can claim that these insects most often live in meadows and fields. The most beautiful types of locusts are found in tropical rainforests. They even live in the mountains at an altitude of up to 6,000 m above sea level. And although locusts prefer green plants, there are species that inhabit semi-deserts and even deserts. Locusts are very voracious and damage crops. Many species - those that live in mountainous areas - do not have wings and therefore move by jumping. Only 60 of the 10,000 species of true locusts are found in Central Europe.
REPRODUCTION
Mating of locusts can last up to several hours. Almost immediately after mating, the female lays her eggs, usually burying them in the ground. The female's ovipositor is very elastic and can almost double in length. This allows her to lay eggs deep enough into the ground. Each portion of eggs is enveloped in a special foamy liquid, which, when solidified, forms a kind of capsule. The time required for embryo development depends on temperature and climate. Development of the embryos begins immediately after the female lays her eggs. In species living in regions with cold climates, the development of embryos lasts longer, until the onset of cold weather. Then it stops and resumes only in the spring, when warming comes. In warm countries, worm-like larvae hatch after a short time. After the first molt, they become similar to adults, they just do not have formed wings. After this, the larva molts another 4-5 times. Each time its size increases, and at the same time the antennae and wing rudiments gradually lengthen.
FEATURES OF THE DEVICE
All types of locusts produce a characteristic “chirping” sound. This peculiar “singing” of insects brings to mind for many people the image of a flowering meadow on a hot summer day. The sound apparatus of locusts is located on the thighs of the hind legs and elytra. Tubercles stretch along the inner surface of the thigh, and one of the veins of the elytra is thicker than the others. Locusts make sounds by quickly moving their hips, with the tubercles touching the vein. Because the tubercles are uneven, the result is a staccato chirping sound. In most locust species, both males and females chirp.
INTERESTING FACTS, INFORMATION
- There are many tropical locust species that do not chirp.
- Some species of locusts cover a distance of 200 times their body length in one jump.
- The bodies of true locusts can have a wide variety of colors and color variations. In addition, there are striped, spotted and speckled insects.
- Among locusts living in Europe, the chirping of individual species is so different that the females “recognize” the male of their species by their “voice.”
- One of the largest locust species is Tropidacris cristatus, which is native to Costa Rica. One ornithologist mistook this locust for an outlandish bird and caught it for display in a zoological museum.
CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF LOCUSTS
A characteristic feature of locusts is the peculiar structure of their hind legs. They allow insects to jump long distances. Like grasshoppers and crickets, locusts are excellent musicians.
— Habitat of true locusts
WHERE DOES IT LIVE?
Locusts are numerous throughout the world, often living in areas with rich vegetation. They are also found in semi-deserts.
PROTECTION AND PRESERVATION
True locusts are only threatened with extinction where their habitats are destroyed, especially in tropical rain forest areas. Some species are considered serious pests.
Hordes of locusts hit the southern regions of Russia. Video (00:02:52)
In the south of Russia, all efforts are being devoted to the fight against locusts. There are more and more invasive insects; crops are already suffering from them in several regions. For example, in the Stavropol region, the current migration of giant grasshoppers is the largest in several years.
The population is so large that it is impossible even to simply walk along the road without stepping on an insect. Now these locusts are about three weeks old, and they can travel up to 15 kilometers in a day. And in a few days their wings will grow and this distance will increase to 50 kilometers.
In the eastern part of the region, where the Stavropol region borders on the steppes of Dagestan and Kalmykia, most of the land of the Levokomsky district is allocated for pastures. That's why these fields are never plowed. The locusts, which lay their larvae in the ground, reproduce very actively and begin to move to where there is more food - to the west.
Habitat
There are a huge number of locust species, and about 600 of them live in Russia, mainly in the southern regions. The steppe locust lives in Asia, North Africa, and Europe. Different species live in different regions. The borders of the Sahara, the Indo-Malayan archipelago, New Zealand, Kazakhstan, Siberia, Madagascar are all habitats for locusts.
Large nesting centers are located in the delta of the Amu Darya River, near the Northern Caspian Sea and Dagestan. The northern regions are also habitats for locusts, but the population density there is much lower than in the south. The insect pest locust prefers dryness and heat, so it often settles in semi-deserts and dry steppes.
Small flocks fly 20-40 km per day, and large flocks can travel 200 km. Per day. The southern regions of Russia have repeatedly suffered from locust invasions. So in 2010, the Astrakhan region almost lost 50 hectares of crops, and in the Volgograd region, locusts caused damage to 12 districts. People are fighting locusts, but it is very expensive.
HORROR! LOCUST ATTACK IN STAVROPOL. THIS HAS NOT HAPPENED FOR 30 YEARS / Life life TV. Video (00:03:10)
An invasion that is gaining catastrophe proportions every day! The Stavropol region is being attacked by hordes of locusts. The fight is going on both on the ground and from the air, but chemicals cannot resist the giant swarms of pests that devour hectares of crops in their path. There has not been such migration of insects in the region for the last 30 years. There are so many locusts that it dazzles your eyes! Insects have been plaguing the Stavropol region for several days now. And if the townspeople jokingly fight them with slippers, then in the villages the pests will make you cry.
Fighting methods
The locusts act mercilessly in the area. It very quickly eats up almost any planting. It is impossible to choose simple ways to combat it, because it spreads with lightning speed.
Locusts are often confused with grasshoppers, so they do not begin timely control. But in such situations, delay can cost the harvest.
Mechanical method. In the early stages, you can manually collect adults and larvae from the ground. This is quite complicated and will take time, effective only in the early stages.
Digging . If pests are noticed, before planting or after harvesting, you need to dig up the soil and add special solutions against pests.
Burning out . If there is no risk of setting fire to outbuildings, you can use fire. The remains of the plantings are burned out and the larvae die. You can enhance the effect if you sprinkle the soil with peat or straw.
Chemistry . There are a variety of drugs, and you can choose the right ones on the market. But you should understand that these drugs are harmful to plantings. They must be used carefully, without excess.
DANGEROUS LOCUST. GIANT LOCUST EATING. Video (00:02:10)
DANGEROUS LOCUST. GIANT LOCUST EATING. Locust invasion. Giant locust. Locusts eat the crops. Locusts are arthropods, class - insects, locust family. Locusts usually live on roadsides. The giant locust is a larger type of grasshopper. Dangerous Locusts gather in huge swarms, destroying all plants, These are hunger games. Locusts are dangerous. There are swarms of locusts of up to 40 billion individuals. The locust's favorite food is cereals. Due to lack of food, locusts eat all vegetation. The enemies of locusts and grasshoppers are starlings, storks, and larks. In some countries, locusts are eaten, cooked in oil, and locusts are a delicacy. Locusts gather in swarms - migratory locusts.
Phases of development
As has already been noted, locusts have two development options: solitary and gregarious, which are strikingly different from each other.
Single cycle
The locust filly, as single individuals are called, develops freely with an abundance of food and leads an inactive, shy lifestyle, which is why it was previously systematized as a separate species. Single individuals are characterized by camouflage coloration and pronounced sexual dimorphism. The filly does not cause significant harm.
In fact, a single phase of locust development is necessary for the preservation of the population. The female lays eggs and when the food supply becomes insufficient to feed all the larvae, the locust moves on to another stage of development.
Herd development
Association in swarms is observed in hot, dry years, when locusts begin to experience a shortage of food and moisture. According to recent studies, a lack of protein provokes females to intensively lay so-called “campaign” offspring.
Interesting! In laboratory conditions, many mirrors were placed in the area of a sedentary filly. Seeing her reflections, the female began to actively lay eggs according to the “walking program”.
Gathering into a large tribe, intense friction against each other, the visibility of their own kind, the smell of fellow tribesmen causes a powerful production of serotonin in the nervous system.
Due to the release of the hormone, individuals literally undergo dramatic morphological changes in a matter of hours:
- change of color;
- increase in size;
- leveling sexual dimorphism.
Clusters of adult flying locusts are called swarms; the larvae form swarms. The population moves, as if on command, in one direction. Weakened individuals are eaten along the way by their fellow tribesmen. Adult locusts are capable of long flights and cover from 90 to 140 km per day.
The length of the flocks is measured in tens of kilometers, and the number can reach several billion individuals. The weight of such “collectives” reaches tens of tons.
The locust invasion cannot go unnoticed. The sound of approaching insects is comparable to the sound of thunder, and the flock itself covers the sun.
On its way, the flock devours literally everything, even the thatched roofs of houses, vineyards, orchards, vegetable and grain plantations. Just decades ago, locust attacks caused famine. Now the flocks are causing colossal losses to farmers. In 2015, a locust invasion in Russia destroyed an area comparable to the territory of an entire state, for example, Romania.
