Locust swarm 2019

July 26, 2019 — Staff Writer

Reports are coming in from everywhere as a swarm of locust descends on Las Vegas this week. You could think of a locust as a grasshopper, and in this case the locust is a common desert species called the pallid-winged grasshopper.

Whenever the winter or spring have higher than average precipitation, the grasshoppers accumulate in large numbers south of Laughlin before migrating northward to find new territory in swarms like what we are now seeing.

A woman is being swarmed by locust in this scene from Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977) — Not quite representative of what recently occurred here in Vegas, Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair) is swarmed by locust and a wind demon. I give inexplicable sequels 5/5. Image: Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)

Like other insects, these grasshoppers are attracted to lights and what better place to find them than our city in the desert. There is an image of locust in front of the Luxor Sky Beam in a reddit post to provide some evidence of the density of the swarm. In the image, the Sky Beam would actually be in the far distance relative to the particular grasshoppers caught in frame.

Jacob from Jacob’s Life in Vegas was live on scene during the migration.

Unlike many other swarming locust, these particular grasshopper are not listed as damaging to crops or vegetation. They do not carry disease or bite people.