What Is The Difference Between Grasshoppers And Locusts?
What Is The Difference Between Grasshoppers And Locusts?
Every so often people will see a massive swarm of thick bugs flying in the sky. These swarms become so large that they appear as enormous clouds on weather radar. These insects are usually described as being a nuisance. For example, these bugs have been known to dive-bomb into people’s faces, splatter their guts all over car windshields, and have also been spotted eating the plants in people’s gardens. So one thing is for sure; these bugs are not well liked. But what type of insects are they? Grasshoppers? Locusts?
The confusion over the difference between grasshoppers and locusts is widespread. Even some well regarded news sources print information about these bugs that is just flat out wrong. For example, a New York Times article once claimed that grasshoppers become locusts once they start swarming. A statement like this is more than a little misleading. In 2010 a leading entomologist wrote an article about grasshoppers and locusts for the Encyclopedia of Animal Behavior. The author of the article, Alexandre Vsevolo Latchininsky, is an entomologist that works for the state of Wyoming. He claims that all locusts are grasshoppers, but not all grasshoppers are locusts. According to Latchininsky, locusts are “short horned grasshoppers”. All locusts belong to the Acrididae family of grasshoppers. Swarming behavior is the most obvious behavior that makes locusts distinct from other types of grasshoppers. To be clear, locusts are a subspecies of grasshoppers. Latchininsky’s article says that there are more than twelve thousand distinct types of grasshopper species in the world. Out of these twelve thousand species, only a dozen count as locusts.
The article also claims that swarming behavior is a relatively recent evolutionary ability that some grasshoppers have developed. It is particularly important to remember that sometimes grasshoppers can demonstrate swarming behavior while not being locusts. This is where most people become confused. Sometimes climatic conditions cause grasshoppers that are not locusts to swarm in a manner similar to locusts. A 2014 case in New Mexico saw a swarm of grasshoppers, but this was a rare case. A dry 2013-2014 winter and 2013’s monsoon season resulted in an overabundance of grasshoppers in parts of New Mexico. The grasshoppers began to swarm in 2014 because the populations were incredibly dense as a result of the previous year’s climate. A high number of grasshoppers in a region with too little space prompts grasshoppers to swarm. Since a grasshopper’s swarming behavior is a relatively new evolutionary trait, it would not be surprising to see more grasshopper species swarming in the future. Maybe one day all grasshoppers will swarm.
Do you believe that more grasshoppers will develop swarming behaviors as time progresses?