Swarms of thousands of slater bugs report on the Australian outback

A swarm of Slater Bugs has been reported to be moving across the Australian outback.

The swarm consists of thousands of slaterbugs that seem to have almost covered the red dirt of the field.

A recent rainfall could have triggered the swarm; possibly related to the seasonal migration of beetles.

Bug swarm

AccuWeather reported that a viral video posted on Instagram on March 14 shows a swarm of thousands of slater bugs moving across the Australian outbreak, near the town of Quilpie, Queensland, about 600 miles west of Brisbane.

The swarm of beetles could be triggered by a recent rainfall in rural Australia, due to anticipation of an upcoming rain, or other beetle-related reasons, according to Wendy Sheehan, Instagram video author, as quoted by AccuWeather.

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What is a Slater Bug?

Slater bugs are also known as pill bugs, roly-poly, sowbugs, and woodlice which can be found throughout Australia.

Slaters are described as scavengers and eat only decaying organic matter, according to Cesar Australia, an independent research organization based in Brunswick, Australia.

The pill bugs are considered as a common pest in the cultures of the country.

The presence of beetles also causes damage to crops and pastures in Australia, particularly in the Wimmera and Western Districts of Victoria; Middle North and Yorke Peninsula South Australia; in central New South Wales.

The multi-legged slater bugs are part of the Crustacean group and their physical features are similar to those of the Armadilliidiidae family.

These crustacean bugs are also known for their ability to bend their bodies into a spherical shape.

In addition, the small Roly-Poly bugs spend their lives on land and are not considered fatal, and do not pose a danger to humans.

Bugs are not known to carry virus or disease. However, slater bugs and other swarms can significantly affect humans when they come in large numbers.

Other swarm cases

The pill bug swarm in Australia is just one of the many cases of swarm worldwide.

In general, the swarms usually result in catastrophic damage to crops and property. Other cases of swarms lead to deaths and injuries.

A swarm typically occurs when a significantly large number of insects, such as a bee swarm, gather and move over long distances, remarkably passing through agricultural land.

Some of the main causes of a swarm are related to the mating and climate.

Agricultural damage, including to crops and other vegetation, is often reported during a swarm.

In East Africa, speaker swarms devastated several countries in the region, including Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and Uganda by 2020, resulting in severe agricultural and economic damage, according to the BBC.

In addition, related swarms have also occurred in countries in South Asia such as India and Pakistan and countries in the Middle East such as Iran, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

The BBC stressed that a swarm is called a plague when a large number of insects affect different countries.

In the US, millions of winged insecticides covered the DC area and its surroundings in June 2021.

The critters were detected by Doppler weather radars that usually follow storms as they cover the eastern part of the United States, as per The Washington Post.

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