Locust swarms have been recorded throughout history. [1] Those which have their own Wikipedia articles are listed here, but there are many more notable ones that have happened.
Swarm | Year | Location | Size | Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
Plagues of Egypt | Not verified | Egypt | Desert locust | |
Locust Plague of 1874 | 1874 | United States | Rocky Mountain locust | |
Albert's swarm | 1875 | United States | 3.5 – 12.5 trillion | Rocky Mountain locust |
1915 Ottoman Syria locust infestation | 1915 | Israel, Lebanon, and Syria | ||
2003–2005 Africa locust infestation | 2003–05 | West Africa | ||
2013 Madagascar locust infestation | 2013 | Madagascar | billions | migratory locust |
January 2016 Argentine locust swarm | 2016 | Argentina | ||
2019–2022 locust infestation | 2019 | Ethiopia, Kenya, Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, Iran, India and Pakistan | Desert locust | |
Orthoptera is an order of insects that comprises the grasshoppers, locusts, and crickets, including closely related insects, such as the bush crickets or katydids and wētā. The order is subdivided into two suborders: Caelifera – grasshoppers, locusts, and close relatives; and Ensifera – crickets and close relatives.
Locusts 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 become more abundant and change their behaviour and habits, becoming gregarious. No taxonomic distinction is made between locust and grasshopper species; the basis for the definition is whether a species forms swarms under intermittently suitable conditions; this has evolved independently in multiple lineages, comprising at least 18 genera in 5 different subfamilies.
Locust Valley is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) located in the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 3,406 at the 2010 census.
The Gleditsia triacanthos (Honey Locust), also known as the thorny locust or thorny honeylocust, is a deciduous tree in the family Fabaceae, native to central North America where it is mostly found in the moist soil of river valleys. Honey locust trees are highly adaptable to different environments, and the species has been introduced worldwide. Outside its natural range it can be an aggressive, damaging invasive species.
Robinia pseudoacacia, commonly known in its native territory as black locust, is a medium-sized hardwood deciduous tree, belonging to the tribe Robinieae of the legume family Fabaceae. It is native to a few small areas of the United States, but it has been widely planted and naturalized elsewhere in temperate North America, Europe, Southern Africa and Asia and is considered an invasive species in some areas, such as the temperate east coast of Australia where the cultivar "Frisia" was widely planted as a street tree before being classed as a weed. Another common name is false acacia, a literal translation of the specific name.
The M22 Locust, officially Light Tank (Airborne), M22, was an American-designed airborne light tank which was produced during World War II. The Locust began development in 1941 after the British War Office requested that the American government design a purpose-built airborne light tank which could be transported by glider into battle to support British airborne forces. The War Office had originally selected the Light Tank Mark VII Tetrarch light tank for use by the airborne forces, but it had not been designed with that exact purpose in mind so the War Office believed that a purpose-built tank would be required to replace it. The United States Army Ordnance Department was asked to produce this replacement, which in turn selected Marmon-Herrington to design and build a prototype airborne tank in May 1941. The prototype was designated the Light Tank T9 (Airborne), and was designed so that it could be transported underneath a Douglas C-54 Skymaster transport aircraft, although its dimensions also allowed it to fit inside a General Aircraft Hamilcar glider.
Robinia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae, tribe Robinieae, native to North America. Commonly known as locusts, they are deciduous trees and shrubs growing 4–25 metres (13–82 ft) tall. The leaves are pinnate with 7–21 oval leaflets. The flowers are white or pink, in usually pendulous racemes. Many species have thorny shoots, and several have sticky hairs on the shoots.
The Locust was an American hardcore punk band from San Diego, California, known for their mix of grindcore aggression and new wave experimentation.
Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are amongst what are possibly the most ancient living groups of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago.
The desert locust is a species of locust, a periodically swarming, short-horned grasshopper in the family Acrididae. They are found primarily in the deserts and dry areas of northern and eastern Africa, Arabia, and southwest Asia. During population surge years, they may extend north into parts of Southern Europe, south into Eastern Africa, and east in northern India. The desert locust shows periodic changes in its body form and can change in response to environmental conditions, over several generations, from a solitary, shorter-winged, highly fecund, non-migratory form to a gregarious, long-winged, and migratory phase in which they may travel long distances into new areas. In some years, they may thus form locust plagues, invading new areas, where they may consume all vegetation including crops, and at other times, they may live unnoticed in small numbers.
The migratory locust is the most widespread locust species, and the only species in the genus Locusta. It occurs throughout Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. It used to be common in Europe but has now become rare there. Because of the vast geographic area it occupies, which comprises many different ecological zones, numerous subspecies have been described. However, not all experts agree on the validity of some of these subspecies.
Historic Locust Grove is a 55-acre 18th-century farm site and National Historic Landmark situated in eastern Jefferson County, Kentucky in what is now Louisville. The site is owned by the Louisville Metro government, and operated as a historic interpretive site by Historic Locust Grove, Inc.
The Caelifera are a suborder of orthopteran insects. They include the grasshoppers and grasshopper-like insects, as well as other superfamilies classified with them: the ground-hoppers (Tetrigoidea) and pygmy mole crickets (Tridactyloidea). The latter should not be confused with the mole crickets (Gryllotalpidae), which belong to the other Orthopteran sub-order Ensifera.
Locust Lake State Park is a Pennsylvania state park on 1,089 acres (441 ha) in Ryan Township, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania in the United States. Locust Lake State Park is located approximately 7 miles (11 km) north of Pottsville, 3 miles (5 km) south of Mahanoy City, 8 miles (13 km) west of Tamaqua and 6 miles (10 km) west of Tuscarora State Park. The lake is 52 acres (21 ha). The park offers hiking, camping, boating, fishing, swimming, biking, and a wide array of other seasonal activities.
Kosher locusts are varieties of locust deemed permissible for consumption under the laws of kashrut. While the consumption of most insects is forbidden under the laws of kashrut, the rabbis of the Talmud identified eight kosher species of locust. However, the identity of those species is in dispute. The Jewish communities of Yemen and parts of northern Africa, until their emigration in the mid-20th century, ate locusts which according to their tradition are kosher. Some such species can be bought in Israel for consumption.
Locust bean gum is a galactomannan vegetable gum extracted from the seeds of the carob tree and used as a thickening agent in food technology.
Locusts: The 8th Plague is a 2005 natural horror film directed by Ian Gilmour and starring Dan Cortese, Julie Benz and David Keith about a group of farmers and scientists that battle a swarm of flesh-eating locusts that have escaped from a secret genetics laboratory in Idaho.
Locust Grove is a city in Henry County, Georgia, United States. The population was 5,402 at the 2010 census, up from 2,322 in 2000. Some unincorporated communities such as Luella and many rural areas surround Locust Grove, and those communities have Locust Grove postal addresses.
Gears of War is a media franchise centered on a series of video games created by Epic Games, developed and managed by The Coalition, and owned and published by Xbox Game Studios. The franchise is best known for its third-person shooter video games, which has been supplemented by spin-off video game titles, a DC comic book series, seven novels, a board game adaptation and various merchandise.
Between June 2019 and February 2022, a major outbreak of desert locusts began developing, threatening food supplies in East Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and the Indian subcontinent. The outbreak was the worst to hit Kenya in 70 years, and the worst in 25 years for Ethiopia, Somalia, and India.