Main Articles Listing: Entomology 1. Grasshopper populations up-two news stories Sarah J. Boggan East Valley Tribune May 23, 2007 Experts say there are a few main reasons people are seeing the high-jumping insects: A dry winter with quickly warming temperatures, a plethora of well-lighted parking lots and grasshopper egg-laying season. "It's a nice population this year," said Carl Olson, associate curator in entomology for the University of Arizona. "The populations of bugs fluctuate, depending on the past year's climatic situations, predators and parasites." But if people think this is a large population, Olson says they haven't seen anything. SEEING MORE Too much rain knocks out some insect populations, including grasshoppers, but with a mild and dry winter, "they come out with a flourish," Olson said. And they come out at night when they migrate. "We put up all these lights. They get confused at night and get stuck in parking lots and then, as the sun comes up and the cars come in, they go crazy. Then, as it gets warm, they leave and look for shelter." This is also the time of year grasshoppers are looking for egg-laying sites. WHAT KIND? The grasshoppers around the East Valley are pallid-winged variety. They have light yellow hind wings with short antennae. They use their wings to attract mates and fend off predators. The grasshopper's long hind legs can propel it into the air as high as 20 times its body length. BENEFITS "All insects are positive-they're feeders," Olson said. Grasshoppers feed on plants, including exotic plants that aren't native to Arizona. "They are pruning vegetation and stimulating more growth." CONTROLLING THEM Roger Nussbaum, a lead technician with Arizona's Best Choice Pest and Termite Services, said grasshoppers are "job security" for him. "Ninety-eight percent of all my stops right now are grasshopper related, which leads to scorpion-related issues," he said. "When the grasshoppers are so heavy, the scorpions are heavy because they're coming out for food." To combat the grasshoppers, Nussbaum uses a combination of dust, spray and granular baits. Grasshoppers hide in cracks and crevasses inside and outside homes. The best thing people can do is keep their yards clean. Trimming bushes, grass, weeds and keeping wood piles away from the house are all helpful ways to combat grasshopper populations in the backyard, he said. "We have to take away those hiding places," Nussbaum said. "Their main goal is to annoy us. Everything eats a grasshopper. They are at the bottom of the food chain." That leads to the top of the food chain. There might be fewer grasshoppers if we did what other cultures do and treat them as snacks. "If people were smart, they'd eat some grasshoppers," Olson said. "There's more bugs than cows and there would be a whole lot less problems with hormones and other issues if we ate more bugs." This story can be found online at the East Valley Tribune site: http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/90255 Bumper hopper crop beleaguers Tucson By Dan Sorenson Arizona Daily Star Tucson, Arizona | Published: 05.23.2007 Trimerotropis pallidipennis is here. Soon he, and his millions of kin, will be gone. Well, dead. But, unless you're one of the people who runs around yelling "Get it off me! Get it off me!" when a pallid-winged grasshopper gets in your face, there's probably nothing to get worked up about. "It's a pretty good crop," says University of Arizona entomologist Carl "Bugman" Olson of the 2007 pallid-winged grasshopper herd. And that, he says, is the result of a few factors. "The little hoppers we have now were laid last May or June, hatched over the monsoon season. They mature, they're probably adults by October or November. And then they wait for the annuals (plants) to come out. The ones we're seeing now are close to a year old," says Olson. Oddly, freezing weather isn't much of a concern. "Freezes aren't really the thing that knocks most bug populations out," says Olson. "Their physiology causes them to shut down, but they don't freeze." It's more likely that a wet winter will decimate the wintering hoppers. "When we have those really heavy winter rains, when the soil stays saturated, what everybody wants, it's probably the worst for bugs," says Olson. The moisture "stimulates fungi, and fungal growth on bugs is probably more of a killer than these little tidbits of cold." That, or blister beetles, which he says can kill off hoppers. This past winter, apparently, was good to the wintering hoppers. And when the weather and food suited them, they sprung to life, headed out looking for love one night and, wound up annoying humans in some parking lot or baseball field. They weren't planning on some bug tailgate party. Olson says they usually travel by night and navigate by using bright celestial bodies. But they're easily confused by a sky full of bright artificial lights, lit parking lots and athletic fields. And even if you really don't like hoppers getting in your face, Olson says you may take some comfort from knowing that this is nothing like a plague of locusts. Besides the matter of grasshoppers and locusts being distinct bug families, there is the matter of sheer volume and impact. The pallid-winged grasshoppers won't be killing anyone. Westerners weren't laughing at the locust plague of 1875, the peak in a three-year series of plagues. That was the year a swarm of the bugs estimated to be 110 miles wide and 1,800 miles long consumed half that year's U.S. agricultural output and drove many a Western farmer bug nuts, according to author and researcher Jeffrey A. Lockwood. In Lockwood's "Locust: The Devastating Rise and Mysterious Disappearance of the Insect that Shaped the American Frontier," he says they darkened the sky for days, eating every plant in sight, stopping trains, even gnawing on farm tool handles and clothing. Then, mysteriously, they went extinct. We're left with the little, lost, pallid-winged grasshoppers and a few other species, including the impressive (and much larger) "Mexican general" that is seen later in the year in Southeastern Arizona. Olson goes so far as to say that the pruning action of the pallid-winged hoppers' endless munching may actually stimulate plant growth. Still, Olson says, some people get upset about their munched plants. It's the same, or worse, in Phoenix. The public panic hasn't even started up in Phoenix, at least not yet, says Dawn Gouge, an urban pest management entomologist with the UA Agricultural Extension Service's Maricopa Station in Phoenix. Anyway, says Gouge, there's really nothing, at least nothing safe, to be done about them. She says there is a biological pathogen fatal to pallid-winged hoppers, but it only works on younger stages, not adults. To Gouge, it's a moment for teaching. "It's really just a good excuse to make sure the doors are fitted properly and not propped open," says Gouge. For a few days it's best just to think of the hopper influx as a fast-food party for birds and lizards. Contact reporter Dan Sorenson at 573-4185 or dsorenson@azstarnet.com. This story can be found online at the Arizona Daily Star site: http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/184375.php - Updated: May 30, 2007 [e-Mail me the articles]    -     [Search our articles]    -     [contact us ]     return to media home