A summary of control strategies for the desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria (Forskål)

2002 ◽  
Vol 90 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allan T. Showler
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-69
Author(s):  
Shambhu Katel ◽  
Honey Raj Mandal ◽  
Pooja Neupane ◽  
Sandipa Timsina ◽  
Pratima Pokhrel ◽  
...  

The desert locust [Schistocerca gregaria (Forskal)] (Orthoptera: Acrididae) is one of the world’s most dangerous and destructive migratory pests. It is a highly voracious and polyphagous insect. Its swarms can travel hundreds of kilometers per day and infest areas covering millions of square kilometers, resulting in substantial crop losses. We synthesize published research data and reports on the life cycle, behavior, phases, and damage of the desert locust, as well as its possible management practices, in this study. There are diffi-culties involved in estimating locust populations because locust swarms are highly mobile. Cultural control, baiting, dusting with insecticide, and spraying liquid insecticides (chemical or biological) using ultra-low volume (ULV) application are all options for control-ling locust swarms. Improved knowledge on pest biology, as well as more efficient monitoring and control strategies, are essential com-ponents of an effective management strategy.


1970 ◽  
Vol 102 (9) ◽  
pp. 1163-1168 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. D. Seabrook

AbstractSchistocerca gregaria possess four neurones of giant fibre proportions within the abdominal ventral nerve cord. These fibres arise from single cell bodies in the terminal ganglionic mass and pass without interruption to the metathoracic ganglion. Fibres become reduced in diameter when passing through a ganglion. Branching of the giant fibres occurs in abdominal ganglia 6 and 7.


1998 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan R. McCaffery ◽  
Stephen J. Simpson ◽  
M. Saiful Islam ◽  
Peter Roessingh

1999 ◽  
Vol 202 (16) ◽  
pp. 2151-2159 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Friedel

Substratum vibrations elicit a fast startle response in unrestrained quiescent desert locusts (Schistocerca gregaria). The response is graded with stimulus intensity and consists of a small, rapid but conspicuous movement of the legs and body, but it does not result in any positional change of the animal. With stimuli just above threshold, it begins with a fast twitch of the hindlegs generated by movements of the coxa-trochanter and femur-tibia joints. With increasing stimulus intensity, a rapid movement of all legs may follow, resulting in an up-down movement of the whole body. The magnitude of both the hindleg movement and electromyographic recordings from hindleg extensor and flexor tibiae muscles increases with stimulus amplitude and reaches a plateau at vibration accelerations above 20 m s(−)(2) (peak-to-peak). Hindleg extensor and flexor tibiae muscles in unrestrained animals are co-activated with a mean latency of 30 ms. Behavioural thresholds are as low as 0. 47 m s(−)(2) (peak-to-peak) at frequencies below 100 Hz but rise steeply above 200 Hz. The response habituates rapidly, and inter-stimulus intervals of 2 min or more are necessary to evoke maximal reactions. Intracellular recordings in fixed (upside-down) locusts also revealed co-activation of both flexor and extensor motor neurones with latencies of approximately 25 ms. This shows that the neuronal network underlying the startle movement is functional in a restrained preparation and can therefore be studied in great detail at the level of identified neurones.


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