This year Mormon Crickets swarmed Idaho. Anabrus simplex, or the Mormon Cricket, is a large insect. It can grow to almost 3 inches. You can find them in Idaho’s sagebrush regions and throughout North America’s west. Named by Mormon settlers in Utah these crickets (technically they are Katydids) can gather in swarms which can become serious agricultural and traffic pests.

This 2022 has been a year that Mormon Crickets swarm in Idaho. They’re getting so bad this year (2022) the Idaho Department of Transportation is using plows to clear roads! You can use ITD‘s site to check road conditions here.

Are the crickets dangerous?

As they are run over they can make very slippery spots on roads. Though flightless they can travel up to 2km/day. The Mormon Crickets are usually found in low density numbers, but at certain times and places their populations can explode and the Mormon Crickets swarm Idaho, Oregon, Nevada and other western states. The swarms can include millions of crickets densely packed they rove across the sagebrush. Such swarms can last year, even decades. If the swarm crosses roads it can create dangerous conditions for drivers. So the Idaho Transportation Department helps clear them off.

The Mormon Crickets swarm can bring significant damage to agricultural crops too. They prefer to eat forbs – like milkweeds and sunflowers, but will often eat grasses, shrubs, and sagebrush too. And when the swarm can be as dense as 100 crickets per square meter they do a lot of eating. The crickets can also eat other insects, and even other Mormon crickets – this behavior is much more common during swarms.

How can we stop them?

Swarms can be hard to control. They have plenty of natural predators and pesticides can be used, but when there they are swarming there’s just too many of them to make much of a difference. Lucky for us they are flightless and we can use barriers to stop or direct their swarms.