Mormon Cricket Management
by Dr. Greg Sword, formerly with USDA-ARS NPARL

The current upsurge of Mormon crickets in the western U.S. is one of the most severe infestations on record with outbreaks reported in Utah, Nevada, California, Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, Wyoming, Oregon, Washington and Montana. Outbreaks of this insect can result in the formation of spectacular migratory bands that can be over 10 km long, several kilometers wide, contain dozens of insects per square meter, and travel up to 2.0 km per day . Despite the economic and cultural significance of the Mormon cricket, studies of its biology have been largely neglected. As with grasshoppers, little is known about the ecological mechanisms underlying their outbreaks. Mormon cricket outbreaks typically originate on rangeland. These populations often serve as a source of migratory bands capable of causing major damage when they enter crop systems and usually require swift chemical control. In the absence of ways to prevent outbreaks from occurring, there is an immediate need for technologies that can mitigate the impact of Mormon cricket outbreaks. One such possibility under investigation by USDA-ARS in collaboration with researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Toronto at Mississauga, and the University of Oxford, is the development of predictive models of band movement. The ability to predict migratory band movement will facilitate the identification of specific areas that are at risk of Mormon cricket invasions during outbreak periods. Such information will benefit land managers in control-related decision making and help to reduce undesirable non-target effects by fine-tuning existing Mormon cricket control strategies.

To date, no obvious predictors of Mormon cricket movement have been identified. Importantly, however, individual bands have been reported to meet and flow through one another on numerous occasions. These observations suggest that direction of band movement may be determined early in the migratory process by locally-encountered environmental cues. Recent behavioral work suggests that movement of insects within a migratory band is initiated simply by short-term local behavioral interactions among individuals. Thus, the landscape-scale collective movement patterns of Mormon crickets within bands may be best understood if approached as a self-organizing system akin to those observed in other animal groups such as fish schools and bird flocks. Micro-radio transmitters are currently being used to track long distance movement patterns of Mormon crickets in migratory bands. This landscape-scale tracking data will be used in conjunction with small-scale behavioral data to identify the environmental cues that determine the direction and distance that migratory bands travel.

Current Mormon Cricket Survey and Outbreak Information

General Information

Mormon Cricket (Anabrus simplex Haldeman) Species Fact Sheet by R.E. Pfadt.  Information on distribution and habitat, economic importance, food habits, migratory habits, identification and population ecology of Mormon Crickets. Pictures of nymphs and adults.

Mormon Crickets: A Brighter Side. by Charles MacVean. (PDF) This fact sheet from USU Extension discusses how vegetation losses on rangeland from Mormon crickets can be quite small and may not warrant control campaigns to protect rangeland.

Home and Garden Guide to Mormon Crickets and Grasshoppers. (PDF). 2003. Utah State University Extension.

Utah: Fighting Grasshoppers and Mormon Crickets for nearly 100 Years. (PDF) Utah State University Extension Publication. Includes information on risk areas and control methods for rangeland, cropland and lawns and gardens with contact information.