Desert locust: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the desert locust lives – recorded in 9 countries, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Schistocerca gregaria
Group	Grasshoppers, bugs & other insects
Found in	9 countries
Continents	Africa, Asia, Europe
Class	Insect
Order	Orthoptera
Family	Acrididae

Where does the desert locust live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the desert locust in 9 countries and territories across Africa, Asia and Europe.

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

What kind of animal is the desert locust?

The desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria) is an insect in the order Orthoptera and the family Acrididae, genus Schistocerca. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the desert locust

The desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria) is a species of locust in the grasshopper family, Acrididae. A periodically swarming, short-horned bird grasshopper, it is found primarily in the deserts and dry areas of northern and eastern Africa, Arabia, and southwest Asia. During population surge years, its range may extend north into parts of Southern Europe, Eastern Africa, and Northern India. The desert locust shows periodic changes in its body form and can change in response to environmental conditions over several generations. It begins life as a solitary, shorter-winged, highly fecund (producing enormous amounts of offspring), non-migratory form, to a gregarious, long-winged, and migratory phase in which it may travel long distances into new areas. Due to this traveling, it may join groups, thus, forming locust plagues. This involves invading new areas where it may consume all vegetation including valuable crops. Although at other times, it may live unnoticed in small numbers in various areas.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Desert locust (revision 1373424489), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q281634 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).