Mystery worms turn on northwest China herdsmen

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China has an ancient history of insect swarms. Like so much of the rest of the world, plagues of locusts and other insects regularly devastated Chinese lands. One of the more interesting example happened under the reign of Moa Tse Tung. As part of his Great Leap Forward, millions of people worked 24/7 banging drums, blowing whistles and running around after birds. Birds ate lots of the seed the farmers planted so, it was figured, get rid of the birds by denying them rest and flying them to death, and seeds would be saved thus more crops grown. The next year was one of the worst insect swarms in Chinese history. What they failed to realize was that the birds did eat some seed, but they ate far more insects, their eggs and larvae.

Many reasons why this could be happening again now. The thing to remember is that these are probably just the larvae of something else. What will they turn in to and how problematic will they be? Chinese agricultural is already in trouble. If insect swarms return, it could be very bad.

In a message dated 5/11/2009 3:43:41 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, no_reply writes:

Mystery worms turn on northwest China herdsmen An Excellent Credit Score is 750. See Yours in Just 2 Easy Steps!

[Guest guest]

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/090508/science/science_us_china_worms

Mystery worms turn on northwest China herdsmen

Fri May 8, 10:00 AM

BEIJING (Reuters) - An invasion of unidentified worms has forced 50 herdsmen and

their families from their grassland homes, taking 20,000 head of livestock with

them, in northwest China's Xinjiang region, state news agency Xinhua said Friday

The worms are packed up to 3,000 per square meter and chew through the

grasslands like lawnmowers, leaving only brown soil in their wake, Xinhua said.

The agency described it as the worst plague in three decades in Usu, about 280

km (175 miles) west of the Xinjiang capital Urumqi.

Local experts could not identify the 2-cm (1 inch) long, thorny green worm with

black stripes and samples had been sent to Xinjiang Agricultural University,

Xinhua said.

" The pasture was green a week ago. But now the worms are creeping around, and

they even come into my house. I have to sweep them out several times an hour, "

Xinhua quoted one herdsman as saying.

Xinjiang has in the past used chickens, ducks and other birds to fight locusts,

which are also a menace on the grasslands, but so far they have shown little

interest in the pesky worms.

One local official said the worms might be moth larvae that have flourished in

the relatively warm winter and plenty of rain.

(Reporting by Kirby Chien; Editing by Tait)