About Schistocerca cancellata

Schistocerca cancellata is a species of locust in the subfamily Cyrtacanthacridinae. It is the major swarming species in subtropical South America. This species shows typical locust phase polymorphism. Solitarious nymphs are green, but gregarious ones are yellow with a black pattern. There are morphological differences between solitarious and gregarious adults. For many years the two phases were believed to be different species and the gregarious form was mistakenly identified as S. paranensis.

The solitary phase is found in South America between 18°S and 35°S. Plagues originate in a desert and semi-desert zona permanente in NW Argentina, SE Bolivia and W Paraguay, when good rains allow successful breeding, followed by gregarisation. Swarms of gregarious adults may then migrate into crop growing regions.

Picture credit: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons (Image source) Taxonomy ID 274614

(Text from Wikipedia.)

More information General information about this species can be found in Wikipedia

Taxonomy ID 274614

Data source Behavioral Plasticity Research Institute (BPRI), Texas A&M University

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