Introduction
The Desert Locust (Schistocerca Gregaria) is one of the deadliest insect pests, which if unchecked, plays havoc with the agricultural economy of the country. It is an international/transboundary insect pests of crops in Afro-Asian countries monitored by FAO of the United Nation. Desert locust presents very difficult problems in 60 countries from Morocco across Africa north of equator through eastern Africa and Arabian peninsula to Iran and then to Pakistan, India and vice versa. Pakistan lies on the route of migratory locust swarms, both from west and east. From the west, we face the attacks of locust swarm in Balochistan coming from Iran., while from the east we have to fight a war against the locust swarms entering Cholistan & Tharparkar deserts from India where our irrigated cropping areas of Punjab and Sindh are very close to the border.
There are some other species of locust, but those are of the least importance for Pakistan. These are as under:
• Asiatic Migratory Locust Locusta migratoria migratoria (Central Asian countries)
• African Migratory Locust Locusta migratoria migratorioides (African Countries)
• Oriental Migratory Locust Locusta migratoria manilensis (China & Philippines)
• Red Locust Nomadacris septemfasciata (Serville) (African countries, i.e. Congo, Kenya, Angola)
• Moroccan Locust Dociostaurus maroccanus (Thunberg)
• Tree Locusts
• Anacridium melanorhodon (Walker) (Eastern Africa, Saudi Arabia also southern Iran)
• Anacridium wernerellum (Karny) (Southern Africa)
• Anacridium aegyptian (Linnaeus) (Mediterranean & Middle East)
• Bombay Locust Patanga succincta (Johansson)
• Brown Locust Locustana pardalina (Walker)
