<p class="title">Spotted Coffee Grasshopper or 'Aularches Miliaris', endemic to the Western Ghats, is not harmful, but an endangered species.</p>.<p class="bodytext">After the locusts were found in Shirlalu, Noojibalthila and other areas in Dakshina Kannada, farmers feared that the swarms of locusts will destroy their farm produce.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The agriculture department in the district, with help from Entomologists, had identified that the swarms of locusts seen in different parts of Belthangady and Kadaba were Aularches Miliaris.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The department had sent species collected from Shirlalu village of Belthangady taluk to Central Plantation Crops Research Institute (CPCRI), National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources (NBAIR) and Gandhi Krishi Vigyan Kendra (GKVK), Bengaluru, for analysis. The reports from these institutes have confirmed that the locusts found in the district are Aularches Miliaris.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Agriculture department joint director M C Seetha said that Spotted Coffee Grasshopper is found in the Western Ghats in South India and it is one of the endangered species according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The insects are usually found in plantations of coffee, banana, cashew, coconut, arecanut, cardamom and paddy fields. The locusts are not harmful. They can be eradicated while ploughing the land when they are in the egg stage. The nymph can be caught and released to other places. One needs to be cautious while managing the endangered species. They can be killed by spraying neem-based insecticides or by 1.5ml of lambda-cyhalothrin 5 EC per litre of water, she added.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer Selvamani R who had also accompanied experts to the farms said as they were endangered species, farmers were advised not to use chemical fertilizers.</p>
<p class="title">Spotted Coffee Grasshopper or 'Aularches Miliaris', endemic to the Western Ghats, is not harmful, but an endangered species.</p>.<p class="bodytext">After the locusts were found in Shirlalu, Noojibalthila and other areas in Dakshina Kannada, farmers feared that the swarms of locusts will destroy their farm produce.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The agriculture department in the district, with help from Entomologists, had identified that the swarms of locusts seen in different parts of Belthangady and Kadaba were Aularches Miliaris.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The department had sent species collected from Shirlalu village of Belthangady taluk to Central Plantation Crops Research Institute (CPCRI), National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources (NBAIR) and Gandhi Krishi Vigyan Kendra (GKVK), Bengaluru, for analysis. The reports from these institutes have confirmed that the locusts found in the district are Aularches Miliaris.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Agriculture department joint director M C Seetha said that Spotted Coffee Grasshopper is found in the Western Ghats in South India and it is one of the endangered species according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The insects are usually found in plantations of coffee, banana, cashew, coconut, arecanut, cardamom and paddy fields. The locusts are not harmful. They can be eradicated while ploughing the land when they are in the egg stage. The nymph can be caught and released to other places. One needs to be cautious while managing the endangered species. They can be killed by spraying neem-based insecticides or by 1.5ml of lambda-cyhalothrin 5 EC per litre of water, she added.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer Selvamani R who had also accompanied experts to the farms said as they were endangered species, farmers were advised not to use chemical fertilizers.</p>
