Desert locust
The desert locust is a highly adaptable insect known for its dramatic life cycle and behavior, particularly its swarming phenomenon. Found primarily in the deserts of Northern Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and parts of southern Europe, these locusts can exist both solitarily and in large swarms, depending on food availability. When resources are scarce, they can congregate in swarms of up to 80 million individuals, capable of consuming vast quantities of crops—up to 80,000 tons per day.
Desert locusts are herbivorous, feeding on a variety of vegetation, including grasses and crops like maize and citrus fruits. Notably, they can migrate extensive distances, traveling up to 100 miles in a day. Their color changes from sandy tones when solitary to bright yellow and black when in swarms, serving as a visual signal of their shift in behavior. The life cycle of a desert locust can be completed in as little as three months, with females laying eggs in warm sand after rainfall.
Due to their potential for causing significant agricultural damage, desert locusts are often viewed as serious pests, prompting various control measures, including the use of insecticides. Understanding the biology and behavior of desert locusts is crucial for managing their populations and mitigating their impact on food security.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Desert locust
As its name suggests, the desert locust lives in the desert. This creature can be solitary and social at different times in its life. When there is little food, large numbers of desert locusts swarm together and migrate to places with more food. A swarm of 40 million locusts can eat up to 80,000 tons (72,570 metric tons) of crops in just one day.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Orthoptera
Family: Acrididae
Genus: Schistocerca
Species: Gregaria
The desert locusts live in Northern Africa’s deserts, particularly the Sahel Desert, the dry lands of the Arabian peninsula, Iran, Israel, Turkey, and southern Spain.
The desert locust is shaped much like a grasshopper. The locust is an herbivore and feeds on leaves, stems, grasses, fruit, flowers, and crops like maize, or corn, millet, and citrus fruits. When there is plenty of food available, the desert locust lives alone, but when food supplies are scarce, up to 80 million desert locusts swarm together to find food. These locust swarms migrate up to 100 miles (160 kilometers) each day at 21 miles (34 kilometers) per hour. Swarms of desert locusts generally begin their migrations in the early morning or evening. The desert locust eats its weight in food every day. Swarms of locusts can quickly and easily destroy thousands of tons of crops.
The male desert locust typically grows to about two inches (five centimeters) long, while the female may grow to about 3 inches (7 1/2 centimeters) long. Like other insects, the desert locust is divided into three main body parts. These are the head, thorax, and abdomen. The desert locust has a pair of short antennae and compound eyes on its head. A compound eye is an eye with many lenses. The desert locust has two powerful jaws for biting and chewing. Along this insect's back, are two pairs of separate, membranous wings. The desert locust uses these wings to move between feeding areas.
The solitary adult desert locust is typically the color of sand. This helps the creature to blend with its surroundings and avoid being seen by predators. When large numbers of desert locusts swarm together, these insects change from sandy to bright yellow, orange, and black.
Mating and egg-laying generally take place after a rain. This ensures the young have plenty of vegetation to eat. After mating, the female desert locust lays her eggs in the warm sand. She does this by pushing her abdomen into the ground. She deposits around 100 eggs from her abdomen into the sand in groups called pods. The warm sand incubates, or warms, the eggs during their developmental stage. In the tropics, this stage may be between 10 and 14 days long. In cooler areas, they may develop for up to 2 1/2 months.
Once the eggs hatch, young desert locusts, or hoppers, come out of the ground and begin to feed. A hopper is typically yellow and black. It molts, or sheds its skin, many times and grows larger with each molting. At its fifth molting, the hopper grows wings and transforms into its adult body. They reach maturity in 2 weeks to 6 months depending on the weather. The entire life cycle occurs in three months to one year.
Many countries consider the desert locust to be the worst agricultural pest. They try to control the population of desert locusts by spraying insecticides, or insect poisons, on the ground to kill the young, flightless desert locusts and in the air to kill migrating swarms.
The desert locust has a life span of about 9 1/2 months.
Bibliography
"Desert Locust." A-ZAnimals, 16 Apr. 2021, a-z-animals.com/animals/desert-locust. Accessed 5 Apr. 2024.
"Locusts." National Geographic, www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/facts/locusts. Accessed 5 Apr. 2024.