The recent news of the new “invasion” of Cavalllette in Emilia-Romagna fills the chronicles and worries tourists: they were in fact reported sortCiami di Cavalllette in different areas of the Romagna Riviera. It is Shames in migration of the grasshopper Calliptamus italicusthe Cavalletta dei Prati, also known as Italian locust. It is not an invasive alien species, but it is very common throughout the Mediterranean basin including Italy. This is not the arrival of one of the seven plagues of Egypt of biblical memory, but of a recurring phenomenon and in any case not very welcome. Already in the last year, in fact, similar episodes have occurred in the same areas, thanks to the heatthe prolonged drought And the Libeccio wind that pushes on the coasts these days. The containment strategy is prevention: by acting on the eggs in the May-June period, before hatching, as required by the phytosanitary service of Emilia-Romagna, it is possible to contain the summer expansion.
The shamans, annoying to the sight but absolutely harmless to bathers, instead cause huge damage to cropsfruit trees and many ornamental plants. These are phenomena with which we will have to get used to living together because of climate changewhich alternate long periods of heat and aridity with strong sudden rains. In any case, the impact of the grasshopper of the meadows, although feared by our farmers, is not absolutely comparable to the devastations caused on the cultivation of southern Africa by its African cousins such as the African migratory locust (Migratoryoids migratory locust), the red migratory locust (Nomadacris septemfasciata ) or the Locustana Pardalina.
The characteristics of the Prati Cavalletta
Calliptamus italicus It is a species belonging to the Acrididae family, which includes both sedentary grasshoppers and “shamans ”, that is, characterized by the ability to perform group migrations. It is characteristic of arid and steppe habitats, but it also adapts well to cultivated environments where it finds abundant nourishment.
It is, in fact, such a said species polyphaga that is, able to feed on different vegetable varieties both spontaneous and cultivated, with particular predilection for the legume Like medical grass. Its life cycle lasts one year: towards the end of August the females dig a small hole in the ground and lay anvot containing the eggs, choosing dry, repaired and sunny places. In the spring, between May and June, youth stadiums emerge at the hatching of eggs (called neanids) which are transformed into adults in the height of summer, with the heat of July. Knowledge of the life cycle is essential to control its expansion.
How to prevent the invasions of grasshoppers of the meadows
As expressly indicated by the phytosanitary service of the Emilia-Romagna Region, the control of the Calliptamus Italicus grade must be carried out in a precise moment of the life cycle To be really effective.
In fact, it is necessary to intervene with insecticides, generally based on pyreterin the period Between mid -May and late Junewhen the eggs begin to hatch and the young Neanids begin to appear. The operations must be carried out in the holes in the ground where the eggs were laid, the so -called “grillare“, In order to act before the cavalllets become adult and start moving. It is definitely Not very effective acting in the height of summer On adults who are less sensitive to insecticides, more harmful to crops and capable of aggregating to move on long distances.
Cavalletta and locust: the differences in behavior
Often it is thought that the ride and the locuste belong to different taxonomic groups, that is, they are different animals: in reality apart from the species Migratory locust, which is locust in name and in fact, for some other species of the acrididae family the difference between locusta and cavalry is a question phenologicalthat is, of behavior and appearance that they change according to certain environmental conditions.
These insects have the ability to move from a lonely life as a grasshopper, to the aggregation in very numerous groups in the form of locusts when the climatic conditions require it. Le locuste, who represent the Gregaria formare able to reproduce explosively and then form sciams in migration composed of thousands of individuals who change in shape and coloring and that become devastating vegetable devourers at their passage.
