South American locust

CIGLIANO, M.M., C.E. LANGE; SONG, HOJUN

Encyclopedia of Pest Orthoptera of the World.

China Agricultural University Press

Lugar: Pekin; Año: 2019; p. 198 - 203

Schistocerca cancellata is widely distributed in Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and southern Brazil. The maximum known invasion area covers nearly 4,000,000 km2. The most well-known outbreak areas include La Rioja and Catamarca in Argentina. Schistocerca cancellata is a generalist herbivore. It is known to attack crops as beans, citrus, cotton, flax, groundnuts, lucerne, maize, oats, peas, potatoes, rye, sorghum, sugar cane, and wheat. During the first half of the 20th century nearly half of Argentina was invaded. Swarms may reach 65 km. Because of effective control of nymphal bands, there has not been a major upsurge until 2015-16 when a new outbreak developed into what is considered the worst one in 60 years. Egg development is continuous. Duration of total nymphal period is about 33 days and there are six instars. The life span of adults varies between 39 and 155 days. There are typically two generations per year and sometimes even three. In October, sexually mature adults are seen laying eggs. The hatchlings develop between November/January, giving rise to adults in February. These adults reproduce and their offspring can be observed in March/April. However, the adults from this second generation enter reproductive diapause until October. Management options are discussed.