OCR Text |
Show Mormon crickets everywhere RICHFIELD With the unseasonably warm, early spring weather, Mormon crickets are hatching throughout the mountains west of Sevier Valley and everywhere that the migratory bands reached late last summer. Large bands of crickets have already started hatching near the south interchange of 1-70 in Richfield. Local Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service officials put in a request on March 3 for treatment of public lands. Embryonic growth for these crickets (actually, a shieldbackcd katydid) begins when eggs are laid in summer. Eggs attain complete development by fall, at which time they enter a state of delayed growth before entering winter dormancy. At high mountain altitudes, embryonic development may be delayed, prolonging incubation of eggs an additional year. Mormon crickets emerge in spring at much lower temperatures than do grasshoppers. Hatching starts when soil temperatures reach 40 degrees. At this point, officials believe it would require an extended cold or wet spell to have a significant effect on the crickets. Because they clump together in groups to stay warm, short freezes do not have much effect on slowing them down. |