How long do locusts live and how much damage can they cause

There are extremely many species of locusts, and they have strong vitality, able to inhabit all kinds of places, being most widely distributed in mountainous areas, forests, low-lying areas, semi-arid areas, and grasslands. Most are important pests of crops, and during severe droughts they may break out in massive numbers, causing disasters to nature and humans. Their lifespan is generally not long. Let us take a look together below!

How long do locusts live

The lifespan of locusts is generally about 2-3 months. Therefore, in temperate regions, the migratory locust generally has two generations a year, in tropical regions such as Australia and Hainan Island of China it can reproduce 4 generations a year, and in warm temperate regions there are also cases of 3 generations.

The growth process of locusts

The reproductive capacity of locusts is astonishing. From hatching from an egg to mating and reproducing as an adult locust takes about 30 days. A mature female migratory locust can lay an average of more than 200 eggs in her lifetime, with a maximum of about 1000 eggs. It has 3 stages in its life, namely egg, nymph, and adult.

1. Egg: Summer and autumn each year are the breeding season. After mating, the female locust inserts her ovipositor into soil 10 cm deep and then lays about 50 eggs. The eggs live in the soil and cannot move freely.

2. Nymph: The nymph is also called a locust nymph, and its body shape is similar to that of the adult. The nymph gradually grows. When it can no longer grow due to the restriction of its exoskeleton, it sheds its original exoskeleton, which is called molting. There are 5 instars, which means it molts 5 times. Before and after molting, it generally does not feed or feeds very little.

3. Adult: The adult has wings capable of flight and mature reproductive organs. It can fly and can also jump, and can mate and lay eggs to breed offspring.

Prevention and control of locust harm

Locusts are an important component of agricultural, forestry, and pastoral ecosystems. Quite a few harmful locust species can cause varying degrees of harm to agriculture, forestry, and animal husbandry. There are already more than 10,000 species of locusts in the world, among which about 300 species can cause harm to agriculture, forestry, and animal husbandry. Locusts can occur globally except in Antarctica and in areas north of 550 north latitude on the Eurasian continent.

1. Agricultural control: The main methods of agricultural control of locusts can be summarized into three types.

① Reduce the food sources of locusts: Many kinds of locusts eat corn, wheat, sorghum, rice, millet, and so on, but do not eat soybeans, alfalfa, fruit trees, and so on. Therefore, in locust outbreak areas, planting as many soybeans, alfalfa, fruit trees, and other forest trees as possible can prevent and control locusts;

② Reduce the habitat of locusts: Some locust outbreak areas are low-lying, and we can convert such plots into ponds to raise fish and shrimp. This can greatly reduce the habitat of locusts and also better prevent and control locusts;

③ Reduce the egg-laying sites of locusts: Some species of locusts, such as the East Asian migratory locust, like to lay eggs in dry, bare plots. We should intensify afforestation, increase the number of plants, and make plant coverage reach more than 70%. Such plots are then no longer suitable for locusts to lay eggs, and the harm of locusts can also be reduced.

2. Biological control: At present, there are mainly three methods used for the biological control of locusts.

① Protect and use local natural enemies of locusts to control locusts, such as protecting frogs, lizards, birds, predatory beetles, parasitic wasps, parasitic flies, and so on.

② Use biological pesticides to control locusts. The biological pesticides currently used to control locusts include locust microsporidia, Metarhizium anisopliae, and azadirachtin, and so on.

③ Herding chickens and ducks to control locusts. Chickens and ducks also prey on locusts. While controlling locusts, this also increases the benefits of agricultural production.