Locust is a dangerous insect pest. Locust: description of species

Our Earth is full of a wide variety of living creatures, among which you can find such an insect as a locust (pictured). This insect looks like a grasshopper, but is somewhat different from it. appearance and physiological characteristics. Even in ancient times, locusts were a threat to crops. So today - locusts are dangerous for many plants.

You can meet locusts in all countries of the world. The only exceptions are the northern territories. The insect is very unique - as long as the locust lives alone without its fellows, it is extremely harmless, but as soon as the locust finds its own kind ... Together they can cause enormous damage to agriculture.

Description

The body of the locust has an oblong shape. Its length reaches an average of 5-7 cm, although the most large species can be about 20 cm. At the same time, females are larger.

Two rigid elytra are attached to the body, which hide two small transparent wings. The hind legs of the locust are longer than the front and middle ones. Thanks to them, the locust is able to jump a distance that exceeds the length of its body by 20 times.

The head of the locust is quite large. The muzzle has the shape of a rectangle or almost a square, on which there are rather large eyes. This structure of the muzzle gives it a good look. In the oral cavity there are very powerful jaws, thanks to which the insect is able to gnaw through the thickest stem.

Interesting to know: Some species of insect differ from others in their ability to fly.

The color of the locust depends on a number of factors:

• Even close relatives can have a variety of body colors;
• With age, the color becomes darker;
• Single individuals usually have a yellowish, brick, green or brown color;
• As soon as the locust becomes a member of the swarm, it acquires the same color as the rest of the swarm.

The lifespan of an insect depends on weather conditions, as well as from the activities of the main enemies of the insect, as well as human activities.

So, rains lead to the fact that plant crops are affected by the fungus, which in turn leads to infection and death of locusts. Birds, beetles and other enemies can destroy the insect. And also a person in the course of the fight against a pest destroys it. If the locust did not become a victim of diseases and enemies, then it can live up to 2 years.

Habitat and diet

Locusts prefer plant foods. And it does not matter at all - wild or grown by man. She eats everything she comes across - leaves, stems of any shrubs, trees. Rare species prefer to feed on herbaceous crops.

During its life, an insect eats an average of about 300 grams of plant food. And per day, the amount of food eaten exceeds her body weight twice.

During invasions, the amount of food eaten increases several times. During periods of long flights, individuals can eat each other.

Note: some species prefer to feed on poisonous crops. As a result, the locust itself becomes poisonous and dangerous. This is warned by its changing color - it becomes somewhat brighter.

Locusts are ubiquitous. You can meet individuals on all continents, with the exception of Antarctica, as well as other northern regions. Some species prefer to settle in areas covered with dense vegetation or near water bodies, while others prefer desert areas.

Are locusts dangerous?

Solitary locusts are not dangerous. The locust is very shy and leads a sedentary life, eating rare plants and leaves of shrubs.

As soon as individuals stray into flocks, locusts become extremely dangerous for vegetation. On its way, it devours absolutely everything, up to reeds and thatched roofs.

Interesting fact: in 2015, during a locust invasion in Russia, an area comparable in size to Romania was destroyed.

According to eyewitnesses, locusts bypass only stones and iron objects. Entire ones can be destroyed. orchards, vegetable and grain plantations.

Varieties

rainbow locust

The genus contains a fairly large variety of varieties. Among them are the following:

• desert migratory- This is one of the largest varieties of insects. The body length of a female individual can exceed 8 cm. It differs in that it can fly. Color - from yellow to dark brown. distribution environment - the Sahara desert or Hindustan. The variety lives for a long time - no more than 2 months;
• Asian migratory- Another species of locust that has the ability to fly. Body color is brown, yellowish or has a slight green tint. It lives mainly in Asia, but it can also be found in regions of Siberia;
• Rainbow- an unusual type of insect. The rainbow locust lives on the island of Madagascar. It has an incredibly bright body color. This species is highly poisonous, which is caused by feeding on toxic plant crops;
• Egyptian- one of the largest varieties. Some sources claim that the body size of individuals of this species can reach 20 cm. It lives in Europe and North Africa.

Fighting methods

There are several methods of locust control:

• Mechanical (destruction of individuals, for example, by crushing);
• Agrotechnical (harrowing, peeling);
• Chemical (treatment with pesticides).

Only the third method is most effective, which will help to destroy large clusters of insects. However, it is recommended to carry out the treatment in the phase when the locust is in the larval stage, since the adults are not afraid of chemicals.

How is it different from a grasshopper?

There are several differences between a locust and a grasshopper:

1. The body of the locust is longer and narrower than that of the grasshopper;
2. The grasshopper's antennae are somewhat longer;
3. The locust eats plant food, and the grasshopper is a predatory insect;
4. Grasshoppers are active at night, locusts - during the day;
5. Grasshoppers are absolutely harmless to agriculture.

Locusts are quite large and dangerous insect. The danger comes when individuals gather in flocks. It is extremely difficult to fight them. It is known that the invasion of locusts is capable of destroying huge areas of crops and plantations.

How to distinguish a grasshopper from a locust in order to start fighting it in time, the following video will tell:

Tells entomologist, candidate biological sciences Dmitry Belov.

Grasshopper

These are the most common "chirrers". Grasshoppers live almost throughout Russia, except for the highlands and regions of the Far North. Most species are hunters, patiently waiting for their prey to arrive. In this, the grasshopper looks like a praying mantis - it also, hiding, watches for the victim, and then grabs it with strong forepaws and powerful jaws. Sometimes the grasshopper moves with quiet steps, feeling the road in front of him with his antennae - as soon as they touch another insect, the hunter catches it with a quick swoop. In choosing an object for a snack, he does not disdain anyone, even his relatives. Most often, aphids, hairless caterpillars, young beetles and fillies are found in its jaws. If there is not enough animal food, the grasshopper can also switch to vegetation, eating the buds and leaves of shrubs, various cereals. Only a few species are completely herbivorous, such as the greenhouse grasshopper, which damages flowers in greenhouses.

So it turns out that the children's song is telling a lie: the grasshopper will “touch” the goat, and is not particularly friendly with flies. And, by the way, it can easily bite through the skin on the fingers of a person who inadvertently grabbed it. Moreover, he will burp a drop of his own blood into the wound, which will burn like fire. Handle him with care!

Built-in violin

The grasshopper performs incredibly beautiful melodies with the help of its front wings. With a jagged vein on the left wing, like a bow, the grasshopper leads along the "grater" on the right wing, and from it the vibrations are transmitted to a special vibrating membrane - "mirror".

The "track list" of the performer includes long piercing invocative songs, short warning trills to rivals and a quiet squeaky ballad addressed to the lady of the heart. The male does not just play it - sometimes he also dances, swaying from side to side during the performance.

The organs of hearing in grasshoppers are located ... on the shins of the front legs. Inside, the “ears” are very complicated, but on the outside they look like membranes or narrow slits.

Here is the jump!

The grasshopper is a world famous jumper: the height of his jump is ten, and the length is twenty times his own height.

locust

It is possible that a locust or a filly gives a concert in your garden. This is the closest relative of grasshoppers, found almost everywhere, with the exception of the coldest regions. She only eats plants.

Locusts have become infamous for their monstrous appetite and ability to gather in billions of swarms. Every day, the locust eats plant food as much as it weighs itself. It would seem that this is not much, only 2 g, but a flock of a billion insects is already absorbing 2000 tons! In Russia, locusts live in the lower reaches of the Volga, Ural, Don, Terek.

Filly (small species of locust) are more modest in their appetites, but are found everywhere. They can be seen even in the center of a large city.

Photo: www.globallookpress.com

What does she play

The sound apparatus of the locust is not complicated. It's a long row of bumps on the thighs hind legs and a thick vein on the forewing. By quickly moving its foot along the wing, the insect makes jerky chirring sounds. The melody changes from ringing at noon to quiet and hoarse at dawn and dusk.

Grasshopper or locust?

The grasshopper has long whiskers (they are 4 times longer than the body), the locust has short ones. The female grasshopper has a saber-shaped ovipositor at the end of the abdomen, while the locust does not. The grasshopper has a pointed head at the bottom, and a short body for greater maneuverability. The locust has a rounded and blunt head, and an elongated body for better aerodynamics. Grasshoppers are sedentary, while swarms of locusts fly thousands of kilometers.

Cicada

If the song comes from above, then most likely it is performed by a cicada, one of worst enemies plants. Adult insects suck the juices from the leaves of grasses, shrubs and trees. The larvae hide in the ground and damage the roots.

Southern cicadas are large (body length - 2-6.5 cm, wingspan - up to 18 cm), and small cicadas live in Central Russia and to the north - no more than 1 cm tall.

Photo: www.globallookpress.com

The body of the cicada is wide and short, on the sides there are two pairs of transparent wings. The head is broad, with large bulging eyes. The legs are strong, but the cicadas cannot jump high, and they fly so-so. Most of the time they prefer to walk.

To the touch, the cicada is much tougher than it looks, and its wings are so dense that it feels like they can cut themselves. But in fact they are harmless to humans.

Both male and female cicadas chirp, although the latter do so extremely rarely. But the males, wanting to attract the "ladies", announce the air with a very loud song - up to 100 decibels. Sometimes it can be heard from a distance of 800 meters.

Powerful vocals

The cicadas' loud songs help keep predators at bay. In the deserts of North America, the cicada chorus is so powerful that the eardrums of man cannot stand it! What then happens to predators, whose hearing is much more subtle? None of them will dare to approach the singing cluster of cicadas.

Where is the voice from?

The cicada's voice apparatus is a very clever device. Simplified, it can be described as follows. On the lower part of the body, she has membranes ("cymbals"). With the help of special muscles, the cicada can strain them and relax them sharply. Rapid vibrations generate sound, which is amplified and modified by a special chamber in the insect's body. Produces sounds in the same way tin with a convex bottom, if it is alternately pressed with a finger and released again.

Video Review: Giant Locust from Central America:

Locust diet

• Reed and reed thickets on the banks of rivers, ponds, lakes, swamps;
• Any cereal crops - wheat, oats, corn, rye, barley, millet, sorghum and others;

REFERENCE: Less popular: flax, buckwheat, hemp.

• Vegetable crops - legumes, beans, soybeans, table and sugar beets, potatoes and others;
• Fruit orchards. The pest eats leaves and fruits of plums, cherries, peaches, pears. They also gnaw at the bark of young trees;
• Vine plantations. They feed on berries, petioles, grape leaves;
• Cabbage, gourds - pumpkins, melons, watermelons, sunflower plantings;
• Separately growing trees, shrubs, grass, as well as entire forests.

How is the oral apparatus arranged?

The locust has a gnawing oral apparatus designed to eat solid food. This type is original, from which other forms of the structure of the oral apparatus in other insects originate. The gnawing apparatus consists of the complete set elements:

• Upper and lower lips;
• Of two pairs of upper and lower jaws.

Mouth apparatus of insects:

The upper lip helps the insect to determine whether the object being eaten is fit for consumption. The upper jaws move horizontally, biting off a small piece and grinding it into smaller pieces. With the help of strong movable lower jaws, crushed food is pushed into the esophagus.

The upper and lower jaws are not only for food, insects use them to protect themselves during a fight with the enemy.

Do locusts bite?

Locusts are often confused with grasshoppers.

However, despite the external similarity, they have significant differences:

• The grasshopper has longer antennae that help in the search for prey (locust antennae are shorter);
• The grasshopper is mostly nocturnal (locusts are diurnal);
• Grasshopper - a predator that can bite a person quite painfully, even before the appearance of blood, introduces a burning composition into the wound.

The mouth apparatus of this pest does not have teeth, since it is a herbivore, not a predator. Locusts never specifically attack people or try to harm them. However, their jaws are quite strong, allowing them to quickly gnaw off pieces from hard plants. When the instinct of self-preservation is triggered, the locust is able to noticeably “pinch” a person’s skin. After this, it is necessary to treat the bitten place using hydrogen peroxide or iodine.

REFERENCE: The pest does not know how to sting, because it does not have a sting.

Locusts are a great scourge for all gardeners and gardeners. Pests fly in huge flocks, they have a fast breeding process, destroying any vegetation available to them. They devour not only agricultural crops, but also trees, shrubs, reed and straw roofs, and wooden furniture. The locust has a gnawing mouthpart, which is designed to bite off and grind solid food. The lack of teeth and sting does not allow her to bite and sting.

Locust, locust detachment - a fairly large pest length from 3cm, outwardly resembling a grasshopper.

Its elongated body is covered from the sides with hard elytra, often painted to match the area in which the insect lives. The color of individuals can be brown, yellowish or green..

The female has an ovipositor in the form of a pointed spike at the end of the body.

Interesting! The color of the locust is masking. It is different even in closely related insects and depends not only on the type of pest, but also on the palette. environment, nature of nutrition, humidity.

At Asian locust, for example, even the gregarious and solitary form have a different appearance.

A photo

For a visual assessment of what the locust looks like, the photo below:

Locust and grasshopper: differences

Let's find out the difference between a locust and a grasshopper:

• grasshoppers have longer whiskers than locusts, strongly rise above the head;
• grasshopper nature rewarded with longer limbs, massive hind legs - it is better adapted to jumping.

Despite the resemblance, these two insects belong to different orders.- grasshopper and locust. The former are representatives of the long-whiskered suborder, the locust belongs to the short-whiskered ones.

There are also differences in the way of life of a grasshopper and a locust:

• short-whiskered herbivores, and representatives of grasshoppers are predators;
• locusts are diurnal, raiding crops in broad daylight, long-legged jumpers are considered nocturnal insects;
• grasshoppers lay their eggs on the ground parts of plants, and locust pests into the soil.

Damage

A locust infestation can destroy daily from 3 tons of wild and cultivated plants , not shunning a blade of grass. It is considered the most malicious. Every 10 years of life, insect populations are accompanied by peaks, during which an uncountable flock eats up to 20 tons of vegetation under the root.

What plants are affected?

In food, the pest is unpretentious, he eats ground parts vegetable plants, cereals, gourds, attacks orchards, berries, wild trees, not disdaining reed plants.

serve as food leaves, stems, shoots, even the bark of young trees.

Learn more about taste preferences merciless insect you can in the section dedicated to it.

Interesting! The older the insect becomes, the more diverse the food it eats becomes. Hardened individuals are practically omnivorous.

Who will help?

The main defenders of human crops from the voracious flyer - birds. Who eats locusts: herons, sparrows, starlings, storks, gulls, crows. A pest that has lost its agility can become a victim of small rodents.

Kinds

The name of the giant locust itself indicates that these insects have a record big sizes – up to 20 cm. The pest lives in the hot climate of South America.

In Russia, green locust is found everywhere, resembling a grasshopper - an assistant to farmers and gardeners.

Inconspicuous omnivorous Moroccan pest inspires great danger ability to quickly adapt to insecticides and cause great economic damage.

Capable of migrating in search of a suitable breeding climate, the Desert Locust is known for the amount of greens consumed by an individual is equal to its weight.

Nutrition

Good for food both soft and hard foods, which is under the force of the powerful jaws of an insect.

It, due to the structure of its oral apparatus, cannot feed on nectar or suck out the juices of plants: the insect is forced to gnaw everything edible that comes in its way.

reproduction

Mating of pests in a favorable climate can be carried out 5 to 12 times a year.

After mating games and fertilization, the female lays eggs in the soil, of which, after 2 weeks, larvae will appear - reduced copies of adult insects.

In the section about, you can see photos of eggs and insect larvae.

Land protection

Surprisingly, locusts cause great damage to humans today. In the article dedicated to the pest, you can read about how to stop the attacks of its various types.

So, we have described a dangerous agricultural pest - locust, the photos of which you can see above.

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 square, in a ditch by the side of the road, in a garden. In a way, this unique creation, in which two development programs are genetically incorporated. As long as the locust lives as a hermit, unaware of its own kind, it is quite harmless. But as soon as she sees her closest relatives, the spirit of collectivism awakens in her. Insects unite in numerous flocks and cause devastating damage to farmers.

General characteristics of the pest

Locust sizes vary from 3 to 7 cm. Females are larger than males. The body is oblong, rigid elytra and a pair of translucent wings are attached to it, which remain invisible when folded. The color is very variable and depends on the age, conditions and lifestyle that the locust leads:

• Even individuals hatched from the same oviposition may differ in coloration.
• What a locust looks like is also predetermined by the phase of its development.
• In the European strip, single individuals are predominantly yellow, brick, green, olive, brown in color, which helps to mask against the background of surrounding vegetation.
• The older the individual, the darker its color becomes.
• If the locust has joined the swarm, it acquires the same color scheme as that of the other members of the team.

The locust belongs to the order Orthoptera of the locust family.

The large head is not particularly mobile. Large crescent-shaped eyes and a rectangular, almost square muzzle of the locust give the insect a good-natured look. The gnawing mouth apparatus is represented by powerful jaws that help to gnaw through even the thickest and most durable stems. With the upper mandibles, the insect gnaws the leaves, and only then crushes them through the lower mandibles.

A distinctive feature of the locust from its closest relatives: crickets and grasshoppers - short mustache, their length does not exceed half of the calf.

The pinkish hind legs are well developed, which allows the locust to jump at a distance of 20 times its length. It is no coincidence that insects are endowed with jumping abilities. In the larval stage, they still do not know how to fly and their motor capabilities are limited to crawling and jumping. Some species do not have flight activity even in adulthood.

How long a locust lives depends on environmental conditions. Rainy seasons provoke the development of fungal diseases of plants, which leads to infection of the insect and its death. Natural enemies: wild wasps, beetles, birds can also shorten lifespan. Man also contributes by destroying pests. If the locust is in optimal conditions and did not become anyone's victim, then it can live from 8 months to 2 years, depending on the species.

Insect diet

For the most part, locusts spend their time on leaves, in flowers, in grass. Locusts are the most vegetarians with no obvious food preferences. Most species do not care what kind of crop it is - wild or agricultural. They feed on the leaves of plants, trees, shrubs, all ground parts of plantations. Only a few species prefer herbaceous plants. During its life, an insect eats an average of 300-350 g of plant matter, and the daily volume is twice its own weight.

For certain species, food is poisonous plants. With the accumulation of poisonous components in the body of the locust, it also becomes poisonous. Such individuals are characterized by bright flashy colors, which, as it were, warn of the danger of everyone who wants to eat locusts.

When insects flock together, what the locust eats depends on the objects that come across in its path. In this case, even thatched roofs, reeds, not to mention vegetable, grain, gourds. As eyewitnesses say, at the time of insect invasions, locusts do not devour except brick and iron.

The insect is bred as food for various exotic animals. Therefore, the question of what locusts eat at home does not surprise anyone. In insectariums they are fed twice a day with grain, green herbs, some owners even cook sprouted wheat for their pets.

How do locusts reproduce

Females begin laying eggs at the end of summer, in autumn. To do this, she makes a depression in the soil and lays her eggs in it. A special secret is secreted from a special gland, which, like foam, fills all the holes between the eggs and creates a strong reliable protection. After hardening, the ovipositor looks like a long tube, which is called an egg capsule.

One female makes several clutches, after which she dies. In European latitudes, eggs spend the winter in the ground, and with the advent of heat, white larvae appear from them. They are distinguished from their parents by their tiny size and underdeveloped wings. After a few hours, the larva acquires a characteristic color and begins to feed intensively. After 4-6 weeks, having undergone 4 molts, it turns into an adult.

In a warm tropical climate, females lay eggs all year round and the number of generations per year can be 6-8.

Development phases

It has already been noted that the locust has two variants of development: solitary and gregarious, which are strikingly different from each other.

single cycle

Locust filly, as single individuals are called, freely develops with an abundance of food, leads an inactive shy lifestyle, which is why it was previously systematized as separate view. Single individuals are characterized by a camouflage color, pronounced sexual dimorphism. The filly does not bring 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 to another stage of development.

herd development

Combining in flocks is observed in hot dry years, when the locust begins to experience a shortage of food and moisture. According to recent studies, a lack of protein provokes females intensively lay off the so-called "marching" offspring.

Interesting! In laboratory conditions, a lot of mirrors were placed on the site of a settled filly. Seeing her reflections, the female began to actively lay eggs according to the “travel program”.

Gathering in a large tribe, intense friction against each other, the appearance 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 undergo dramatic morphological changes literally in a matter of hours:

• color change;
• increase in size;
• leveling of 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 specimens are eaten by tribesmen along the way. 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 thunder, and the flock itself covers the sun.

On its way, the flock devours literally everything, up to the thatched roofs of houses, vineyards, orchards, vegetable, grain plantations. Literally decades ago, locust attacks caused famine. Now flocks bring enormous losses to farmers. In 2015, the locust invasion in Russia destroyed such a number of areas that is comparable to the territory of an entire state, for example, Romania.

Locust species

There are many types of locusts. Most of of them quickly adapts to new conditions and develops new territories.

The largest locust

This is the largest locust of all migratory species. The size of females reaches 8 cm, males are somewhat smaller - 6 cm. Color can vary from dirty yellow shades to brown. There are many veins on the wings. It lives mainly in the Sahara, Hindustan.

The most saturated bright yellow in larvae and males. The mating process of bright individuals is very interesting. The male begins to chirp furiously, attracting the female. The female, who liked the musical accompaniment, kindly allows the male to climb on her back. Mating continues for several hours. Some cavaliers enjoy sitting on the female so much that they continue to do so even at the moment when the female is busy laying eggs. Life expectancy is only 8 weeks.

Asian locust

Asiatic locust migratory colors in brownish, greenish, yellowish tones. Wings are also not characterized by the brightness of colors. You can meet an insect throughout Europe, Asia, in the south of the Caucasus, Siberia, Korea, China.

Egyptian Locust

This is the largest locust found in Europe. The body length of females can reach 7-8 cm. Only the South American locust can compete with it in size. According to some sources, they grow up to 20 cm in length, but there is no exact confirmation of this.

The Egyptian locust is distinguished by a gray, olive, greenish, yellow color. Legs bright orange. Terrorizing Europe, North Africa.

The benefits and harms of locusts

The greatest damage is delivered by hordes of locusts, destroying fields and plantings. However, the average layman, who does not care about the safety of the crop, is more interested in the answer to the question of whether the locust bites. The insect eats exclusively plant food and it does not bite a person, unlike its fellow grasshopper.

An equally burning question is whether locusts are eaten. Orthoptera insects are the most consumed after ants. In African countries, it is fried, mixed into cakes. Arab women a few centuries ago could cook 2 dozen locust dishes. Cooking recipes lost their relevance due to the shortage of ingredients.

In California, during the locust invasions, whole feasts were held. The captured insects were soaked in marinade, then crushed and soups were prepared. The Japanese are marinated in soy sauce and fried. In a word, there are many recipes for cooking locusts, but not everyone can appreciate its taste, not so much because of inaccessibility, but because of disgust.

Locust and grasshopper: how to distinguish

Locusts and grasshoppers have several differences:

• the body of the locust is long, while that of the grasshopper is shorter and broader on the sides;
• the grasshopper's whiskers are longer;
• the grasshopper is active at night, and the locust during the day;
• the locust eats plants, and the grasshopper eats insects;
• the muzzle of the grasshopper is oblong, the muzzle of the locust is rectangular.