Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 May 2012
Melanoplus sanguinipes (F.) is one of several species of grasshoppers that periodically causes severe economic damage to cultivated crops and rangeland plants in western Canada and the USA. The usual method of controlling outbreaks of these pests has been the application of broad-spectrum chemical insecticides, such as malathion, an organophosphate, and sevin, a carbamate (Blickenstaff et al. 1974; Onsager 1978). These insecticides can cause undesirable environmental side effects.