The Oriental Migratory Locust (Locusta migratoria manilensis, Meyen 1835)

Abstract

The form of the Migratory Locust (Locusta migratoria, L.) appearing in swarms in south-eastern tropical Asia, the Malay Archipelago and the Philippine Islands, is usually referred to the subspecies migratorioides (Reiche & Fairmaire) which occurs in tropical Africa. However, even a superficial examination of series of specimens of the gregarious phase is sufficient to show that the Oriental locusts are somewhat different in their size and structure from the African ones. It was, therefore, of interest to compare the two forms biometrically and the results as described below have proved that the Oriental Migratory Locust should be regarded as a subspecies distinct from the African one, as well as from the three other subspecies of Locusta migratoria so far distinguished (Uvarov & Zolotarevsky, 1929).