The Difference Between Locusts & Grasshoppers
The locust is a type of short-horned grasshopper that has the ability to change color and behavior. Locusts, which travel in swarms for long distances, represent a threat to any and all crops.
Grasshoppers are insects of the order orthoptera, which contains 28 families worldwide. Locusts, however, are found only in the acrididae family.
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Characteristics
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As part of the same taxonomic order, grasshoppers and locusts have similar anatomic characteristics: two short antennae, short ovipositors (organs used to lay eggs), strong mandibles, and long back legs adapted for leaping.
However, fully developed wings—two in the front that are leathery in appearance and two membranous in the back—are present only in adults.
Life Cycle
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Grasshoppers lay clusters of up to 80 eggs, according to the website of University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. Three to four weeks later, the nymphs hatch from the eggs.
Unlike many insects, which go through a larvae stage, newborn grasshoppers very much resemble adults.
Before reaching adulthood, however, the nymphs will change their exoskeleton about five times.
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Damages
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A swarming locust is considered a plague because of the widespread damage they cause to crops in only a few minutes. These insects, which can eat their own weight every day, inhabit the deserts of Africa, Eastern Asia and southwestern Asia. Chortoicetes terminifera and Anacridium sp are found in Australia and along the Mediterranean coast, respectively. In the United States, the only species is the Schistocerca americana.
According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, during plagues desert locusts can spread over areas exceeding 18 million square miles.
Swarming Behavior
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The lack of food and an overcrowded environment trigger the swarming behavior in locusts. They stop acting as individual insects and act instead as a group.
Their appearance also changes. Non-swarming individual locusts are brown. In swarms, adults become yellow and nymphs become pink.
Food Delicacy
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Grasshoppers in general and locusts in particular are rich in protein. They are culinary delicacies in many cultures. People in Africa, China, Cambodia, the Philippines and Mexico eat these insect in many ways: stir-fried, roasted or boiled.
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References
- Photo Credit Grasshopper sitting on a blade of grass image by Zakharchenko from Fotolia.com
