Brown locust

Biology

Incipient outbreaks generally arise following the end of droughts and are characterised by the dramatic increase in the density of the solitary phase adult population over wide areas of the Karoo. Hatching hoppers then aggregate and develop into thousands of small, discrete, highly gregarious hopper bands. For example, over 250,000 hopper bands and 40,000 fledging adult swarms were controlled in the massive 1985–86 upsurge. Swarming populations can then perpetuate themselves for a number of years, requiring an intense control effort, before gradually dying out during another drought cycle."|source=R. E. Price and H. D. Brown (2000) A Century of Locust Control in South Africa. Ch 4. Workshop on Research Priorities for Migrant Pests of Agriculture in Southern Africa, Plant Protection Research Institute, Pretoria, South Africa, 24–26 March 1999.R. A. Cheke, L. J. Rosenberg and M. E. Kieser (eds) (2000) Natural Resources Institute,Chatham, UK.}}

Control

Hopper band outbreaks are frequent in the Karoo and are controlled by farmers with insecticide spray operations: usually deltamethrin with motorised mistblowers set for ultra-low volume application (subsidised by the government).

Because of the environmental sensitivity of the Karoo biome and concerns about toxicity to grazing sheep, a biological pesticide product called 'Green Muscle', based on the entomopathogenic fungus (Metarhizium acridum), was tested by the LUBILOSA Programme in collaboration with the South African Plant Protection Institute: using novel application technique to compensate for the slow speed of kill.

References

References

1. Walker F (1870) ''Catalogue of the Specimens of Dermaptera Saltatoria in the Collection of the British Museum'' 4: 725
2. Uvarov BP (1921) ''Trans. Entomol. Soc. London'' 7: 162
3. [http://orthoptera.speciesfile.org/Common/basic/Taxa.aspx?TaxonNameID=1103185 OSF: ''Locustana'' (retrieved 2 February 2018)]
4. Uvarov, B.P.. (1966). "Grasshoppers and Locusts (Vol. 1)". Cambridge University Press.
5. Price, R.E., Bateman, R.P., Brown, H.D., Butler, E.T. and Müller, E.J. (1997) Aerial spray trials against brown locust (''Locustana pardalina'', Walker) nymphs in South Africa using oil-based formulations of ''Metarhizium flavoviride''. Crop Protection, 16, 345-351