Comparative study on the various species of locusts with special reference to its population fluctuation from Thar Desert, Sindh

Thar Desert is most favorable for life of human throughout the deserts of the world. It is rain fed land, some patches are cultivated by farmers in the form of fields for producing sources of economy, other large part of desert remains untouched for natural vegetation for livestock, but unfortunately little yield of desert is also affected by variety of insect including locusts. During present study four species of locusts; belonging to four genera Anacridium, Cyrtacanthacris, Locusta and Schistocerca, two subfamilies Cyrtacanthacridinae and Oedipodenae and one family Acrididae were reported from Thar Desert from June 2015 to May 2016. Comparative study revealed that two species Schistocerca gregaria and Locusta migratoria are swarming and destructive while, Anacridium aegyptium and Cyrtacanthacridinae tatarica are non-swarming but are larger in body size and graze more vegetation than both swarming species. Though these four species have ecological and morphological difference but the nature of damage is almost similar. All these species were recorded as pest of foliage of all crops and natural vegetation.