The Desert Locust Schistocerca
gregaria situation was calm
during early 2017 due to poor rainfall and ecological conditions throughout
most of the spring breeding areas in northwest Africa and the Arabian
Peninsula. Low numbers of solitarious adults were present but small-scale
breeding probably occurred in interior Saudi Arabia that may cause locust
numbers to increase slightly. Numbers remain low in 2017 so finding one in the
Talea’a Valley, near Abha in the southwest mountains of Saudi Arabia was a bit
of a surprise. The desert
locust can form plagues and threaten agricultural production in Africa, the
Middle East, and Asia which it has done for for centuries. The livelihood of at
least one-tenth of the world’s human population can be affected by this
voracious insect. The desert locust is potentially the most dangerous of the
locust pests because of the ability of swarms to fly rapidly across great
distances.
