Mormon crickets swarmed an Idaho roadway on June 5, footage shows, as millions of the insects descended on neighboring Nevada.
Footage by Lisa Van Horne shows the bugs covering a road as she drives along. Van Horne said the video was taken a few miles outside of the ghost town Silver City in Owyhee County. “I think I may have killed a few,” she wrote on Facebook.
According to KSL News, six counties in Nevada have been plagued by the crickets, which are “flightless, ground-dwelling insects,” according to the University of Nevada.
“In large numbers, their feeding can contribute to soil erosion, poor water quality, nutrient depleted soils, and potentially cause damage to range and cropland ecosystems,” the university said, explaining that the insects “are not true crickets; they are shield-backed, short-winged katydids that resemble fat grasshoppers that cannot fly.”
The Idaho State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) offers a Mormon Cricket and Grasshopper Control Program designed to help the public mitigate the insects.
“This program is managed by the ISDA Invasive Species program, however, grasshoppers and Mormon crickets are native species in Idaho,” the ISDA said. Credit: Lisa Van Horne via Storyful
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