Thursday 2 June 2016

Weekly Update (June 1, 2016; Wk 05) - Predicted Grasshopper Development

Grasshoppers (Acrididae) – This past week, warm conditions conditions in Saskatchewan were predicted to result in enhanced development. 

For the week of May 29, 2016, the predicted mean embryological development was 87% and indicates that grasshopper hatch will continue to progress over the next week to ten days. The model predicted that 23% of the hatch is complete (compared to 13% predicted last week). Approximately 15% of the population was predicted to be in the first instar and 7% in the second instar.



The following image showing various stages of the clearwinged grasshopper is provided below - note that adults have wings extending the length of the abdomen whereas nymphs lack wings but develop wing buds that will eventually mature to wings.  





Biological and monitoring information related to grasshoppers in field crops is posted by the provinces of ManitobaSaskatchewanAlbertaBritish Columbia and the Prairie Pest Monitoring Network.  Also refer to the grasshopper pages within the new "Field Crop and Forage Pests and their Natural Enemies in Western Canada: Identification and management field guide" - both English-enhanced or French-enhanced versions are available.