A Sahel migrant: Oedaleus senegalensis
Locusts are grasshoppers that, in response to certain environmental cues
including high population density, will shift from solitarious to
gregarious phenotypes, which can subsequently lead to swarms. This
phenomenon is termed locust phase polyphenism (78, 79) and is poorly
understood in non-model locust species like Oedaleus senegalensis(80).
O. senegalensis is a grass-feeder and a major pest of millet and
other cereal crops of subsistence agriculture in the Sahel zone of West
Africa. Eggs start hatching with the first precipitation events of the
rainy season (38), which historically occur from June through September.O. senegalensis typically produces three generations that all
migrate following the Intertropical Convergence Zone (38). We conducted
our experiments in August 2017 to coincide with the development of the
first generation which is responsible for critical damages to seedling
millet.