From bark beetles to fall armyworms to plagues of locusts, when insects band together they can do immeasurable damage to crops and as a result our food security. Meet some of the biggest little offenders.
Image: AP
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Tiny bugs with destructive powers
From bark beetles to fall armyworms to plagues of locusts, when insects band together they can do immeasurable damage to crops and as a result our food security. Meet some of the biggest little offenders.
Image: picture-alliance/blickwinkel/R. Koenig
Tiny but powerful
Bark beetles, which reproduce in inner tree bark, have a killer reputation. And while some species of the bug do attack healthy trunks, they generally go for trees that are already diseased, dying or weak. Their role in forest ecology is a hotly contested issue, with some saying they provide an invaluable service and others insisting they are havoc-wreaking pests.
Image: Imago/S. Schellhorn
Fake fall
The horse chestnut leaf miner (Cameraria ohridella) takes its name from the trees it discolors. First observed in northern Greece in the mid eighties, it has since spread to other parts of Europe. Its larvae mine the leaves causing them to turn brown and drop before autumn takes its toll on other tree species. But the damage is not lasting. Come spring, they burst back into green life.
Image: picture alliance/WILDLIFE
Danger in numbers
The damage caused by plagues of locusts is well documented. Desert locusts in particular can swarm into groups of between 40 and 80 million creatures, devastating crops intended for human consumption. Capable of eating their own weight each day, a swarm as large as the one mentioned above, could devour more than 190 million kilos of plants on a daily basis.
Image: AP
The holy snail trail
With their long eyes and neat architectural design, a lot of people find snails cute and endearing. Not so farmers. These slimy little - and sometimes big - creatures are big eaters and will happily chomp their way through crops, such as lettuces, cabbage and broccoli leaving a trail of holes in their wake. Or in the case of smaller plants, tearing them to shreds.
Image: imago/McPHOTO
Short, but busy lives
Like so many pests, pea aphids take their name from their victim of choice. Which in this case means peas, though they also have a predeliction for clover and alfalfa. A mere 4 mm in length and only of this world for some 12 days, they suck the juice from their "host" plants, and are capable of killing them in the process. Oh and BTW: females can produce as many as 100 nymphs in their short lives.
Image: Whitney Cranshaw/Colorado State University/Bugwood.org/cc-by-3.0-US
Terrible termites
Termites are more or less synomymous with mounds of earth and unsafe wooden constructions, but they also have a weakness for some plants - most notably maize. They hollow out the roots and base of the plant, first causing it to wilt, but in some cases later, to die. They also affect both tea and coffee plants, African palm oil, rubber and sugarcane. A varied appetite with a destructive outcome.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Bad for bees
Varroa mites are bad news for honey bees and can wipe out entire colonies. As parasites, they attach themselves to the bee's body and then suck out their host's bodily fluid, thereby weakening their immune systems and rendering them vulnerable to disease. The impact is not only bad for the bees themselves, but for crop pollination.
Image: picture-alliance/blickwinkel/R. Koenig
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Maize crops in South Africa and Zimbabwe face a new danger in the form of the fall armyworm. It has long proved a challenge to farmers in both north and south America, but its presence in Africa was first recorded a year ago when it appeared in Sao Tome and Principé.
The Center for Agriclture and Biosciences International (CABI), which has many offices around the world, has warned that the pest, which sustains itself by eating crops such as maize, could spread to Asia and the Mediterranean in the medium-term, posing a "major threat to agricultural trade worldwide."
Godfrey Chikwenhere from Zimbabwe's Agriculture Ministry told the dpa newsagency that the little pest, which was first detected in the county in December last year, had spread to all provinces by the middle of last month. Though he said the crop most affected was maize, he said yield reduction had so far been minimal.
"We are still in the reach of controlling the pest," he said. "We have deployed teams to spray affected areas."
South Africa says it too has developed an emergency response plan to deal with the pest, which includes awareness campaigns and pesticide trials.
It is believed the fall armyworm was transported to Africa on commercial planes.
Tiny bugs with destructive powers
From bark beetles to fall armyworms to plagues of locusts, when insects band together they can do immeasurable damage to crops and as a result our food security. Meet some of the biggest little offenders.
Image: picture-alliance/blickwinkel/R. Koenig
Tiny but powerful
Bark beetles, which reproduce in inner tree bark, have a killer reputation. And while some species of the bug do attack healthy trunks, they generally go for trees that are already diseased, dying or weak. Their role in forest ecology is a hotly contested issue, with some saying they provide an invaluable service and others insisting they are havoc-wreaking pests.
Image: Imago/S. Schellhorn
Fake fall
The horse chestnut leaf miner (Cameraria ohridella) takes its name from the trees it discolors. First observed in northern Greece in the mid eighties, it has since spread to other parts of Europe. Its larvae mine the leaves causing them to turn brown and drop before autumn takes its toll on other tree species. But the damage is not lasting. Come spring, they burst back into green life.
Image: picture alliance/WILDLIFE
Danger in numbers
The damage caused by plagues of locusts is well documented. Desert locusts in particular can swarm into groups of between 40 and 80 million creatures, devastating crops intended for human consumption. Capable of eating their own weight each day, a swarm as large as the one mentioned above, could devour more than 190 million kilos of plants on a daily basis.
Image: AP
The holy snail trail
With their long eyes and neat architectural design, a lot of people find snails cute and endearing. Not so farmers. These slimy little - and sometimes big - creatures are big eaters and will happily chomp their way through crops, such as lettuces, cabbage and broccoli leaving a trail of holes in their wake. Or in the case of smaller plants, tearing them to shreds.
Image: imago/McPHOTO
Short, but busy lives
Like so many pests, pea aphids take their name from their victim of choice. Which in this case means peas, though they also have a predeliction for clover and alfalfa. A mere 4 mm in length and only of this world for some 12 days, they suck the juice from their "host" plants, and are capable of killing them in the process. Oh and BTW: females can produce as many as 100 nymphs in their short lives.
Image: Whitney Cranshaw/Colorado State University/Bugwood.org/cc-by-3.0-US
Terrible termites
Termites are more or less synomymous with mounds of earth and unsafe wooden constructions, but they also have a weakness for some plants - most notably maize. They hollow out the roots and base of the plant, first causing it to wilt, but in some cases later, to die. They also affect both tea and coffee plants, African palm oil, rubber and sugarcane. A varied appetite with a destructive outcome.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Bad for bees
Varroa mites are bad news for honey bees and can wipe out entire colonies. As parasites, they attach themselves to the bee's body and then suck out their host's bodily fluid, thereby weakening their immune systems and rendering them vulnerable to disease. The impact is not only bad for the bees themselves, but for crop pollination.
