Brown Locust
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The brown locust (''Locustana pardalina'') is a medium-sized small
locust Locusts (derived from the Latin ''locusta'', locust or lobster) are various species of short-horned grasshoppers in the family Acrididae that have a swarming phase. These insects are usually solitary, but under certain circumstances they b ...
species in the
monotypic genus In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...
''Locustana''. It is found in
Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and ...
and shows classic
gregarious behaviour Sociality is the degree to which individuals in an animal population tend to associate in social groups (gregariousness) and form cooperative societies. Sociality is a survival response to evolutionary pressures. For example, when a mother wasp ...
with phase polymorphism on crowding.


Biology


Control

Hopper band outbreaks are frequent in the
Karoo The Karoo ( ; from the Afrikaans borrowing of the South Khoekhoe Khoemana (also known as !Orakobab or Korana) word is a semidesert natural region of South Africa. No exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo is available, so its extent is ...
and are controlled by farmers with
insecticide Insecticides are pesticides used to kill insects. They include ovicides and larvicides used against insect eggs and larvae, respectively. The major use of insecticides is in agriculture, but they are also used in home and garden settings, i ...
spray operations: usually
deltamethrin Deltamethrin is a pyrethroid ester insecticide. Deltamethrin plays a key role in controlling malaria vectors, and is used in the manufacture of long-lasting insecticidal mosquito nets; however, resistance of mosquitos and bed bugs to deltamethrin ...
with motorised mistblowers set for
ultra-low volume Ultra-low volume (ULV) application of pesticides has been defined as spraying at Volume Application Rate(VAR) of less than 5 L/ha for field crops or less than 50 L/ha for tree/bush crops. VARs of 0.25 – 2 L/ha are typical for aerial ULV app ...
application (subsidised by the government). Because of the environmental sensitivity of the Karoo
biome A biome () is a distinct geographical region with specific climate, vegetation, and animal life. It consists of a biological community that has formed in response to its physical environment and regional climate. In 1935, Tansley added the ...
and concerns about toxicity to grazing sheep, a
biological pesticide A biopesticide is a biological substance or organism that damages, kills, or repels organisms seens as pests. Biological pest management intervention involves predatory, parasitic, or chemical relationships. They are obtained from organisms incl ...
product called 'Green Muscle', based on the
entomopathogenic fungus Entomopathogenic fungi are parasitic unicellular or multicellular microorganisms belonging to the kingdom of Fungi, that can infect and seriously disable or kill insects. Pathogenicity for insects is widely distributed in the kingdom of fungi and ...
(''
Metarhizium acridum ''Metarhizium acridum'' is the new name given to a group of fungal isolates that are known to be virulent and specific to the Acrididea (grasshoppers). Previously, this species has had variety status in ''Metarhizium anisopliae'' (var. ''acrid ...
''), was tested by the
LUBILOSA LUBILOSA was the name of a research program management, programme that aimed at developing biological pest control, a biological alternative to the insecticide, chemical control of locusts. This name is an acronym of the French language, French ti ...
Programme in collaboration with the South African Plant Protection Institute: using novel application technique to compensate for the slow speed of kill.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


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown Locust Locusts Orthoptera of Africa Insects described in 1870 Agricultural pest insects Monotypic Orthoptera genera Oedipodinae