1.0 INTRODUCTION
Grasshoppers and locusts include insects in dierent families belonging to the super family Acridoidea and the order Orthoptera Grasshoppers and locusts are distinguishable from other orthopterans primarily on the basis of their external morphology. The most obvious and distinctive features of grasshoppers and locusts are their enlarged hind legs and their relatively short and thick antennae. There are more than 350 grasshopper and locust species recorded from the Sahel (Mestre, 1988), of which about 30 are considered to be of regular or irregular pest status (Popov, 1988). Grasshoppers and locusts occur in a wide variety of habitats, from low-elevation, hot, dry deserts to highelevation, moist environment. Most species occur in arid and semi-arid environment, and it is in the warm semi-arid and arid desert grasslands that grasshopper and locust species diversity and population densities are the greatest They are relatively large, active insects and require structurally open habitats where they are free to move, and where sunlight levels are high enough to enable them to maintain high metabolic rates. Habitat specificity varies considerably among species of grasshoppers and locusts. Some species such as SchistocercagregariaForskål and Oedaleussenegalensis Krauss (Orthoptera: Acrididae) are typically common in desert environments but can be found in a wide variety of habitats over wide geographic and altitude ranges when outbreaks occur. Other species are much more restricted or specific to particular types of habitats .Grasshoppers tend to feed on particular plants that occur in their preferred habitats.