Migratory locust

Migratory locust
Female migratory locust
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Orthoptera
Suborder: Caelifera
Family: Acrididae
Subfamily: Oedipodinae
Tribe: Locustini
Genus: Locusta
Linnaeus, 1758
Species:
L. migratoria
Binomial name
Locusta migratoria
Synonyms
  • Acridium migratorium
  • Acridium plorans
  • Pachytylus australis (Saussure, 1884)
  • Pachytylus migratorius (Linnaeus, 1758)
  • Pachytylus migratorioides (Fairmaire & L.J. Reiche, 1849)
Sound of Locusta migratoria
Field recording in the Netherlands 21s
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Close-Up of a Locusta migratoria

The migratory locust (Locusta migratoria) 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.

Many other species of grasshopper with gregarious and possibly migratory behaviour are referred to as 'locusts' in the vernacular, including the widely distributed desert locust.

At 6.5 Gbp,[1] the migratory locust possesses one of the largest known insect genomes.[2]

  1. ^ Wang, Xianhui; Fang, Xiaodong; Yang, Pengcheng; Jiang, Xuanting; Jiang, Feng; Zhao, Dejian; Li, Bolei; Cui, Feng; Wei, Jianing; Ma, Chuan; Wang, Yundan; He, Jing; Luo, Yuan; Wang, Zhifeng; Guo, Xiaojiao; Guo, Wei; Wang, Xuesong; Zhang, Yi; Yang, Meiling; Hao, Shuguang; Chen, Bing; Ma, Zongyuan; Yu, Dan; Xiong, Zhiqiang; Zhu, Yabing; Fan, Dingding; Han, Lijuan; Wang, Bo; Chen, Yuanxin; Wang, Junwen; Yang, Lan; Zhao, Wei; Feng, Yue; Chen, Guanxing; Lian, Jinmin; Li, Qiye; Huang, Zhiyong; Yao, Xiaoming; Lv, Na; Zhang, Guojie; Li, Yingrui; Wang, Jian; Wang, Jun; Zhu, Baoli; Kang, Le (2014). "The locust genome provides insight into swarm formation and long-distance flight". Nature Communications. 5: 2957. Bibcode:2014NatCo...5.2957W. doi:10.1038/ncomms3957. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 3896762. PMID 24423660.
  2. ^ Li, Sheng; Zhu, Shiming; Jia, Qiangqiang; Yuan, Dongwei; Ren, Chonghua; Li, Kang; Liu, Suning; Cui, Yingying; Zhao, Haigang; Cao, Yanghui; Fang, Gangqi; Li, Daqi; Zhao, Xiaoming; Zhang, Jianzhen; Yue, Qiaoyun; Fan, Yongliang; Yu, Xiaoqiang; Feng, Qili; Zhan, Shuai (2018). "The genomic and functional landscapes of developmental plasticity in the American cockroach". Nature Communications. 9 (1): 1008. Bibcode:2018NatCo...9.1008L. doi:10.1038/s41467-018-03281-1. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 5861062. PMID 29559629. This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license