This species causes occasional but severe damage to wild and cultivated gramineous plants. It has been historically considered as one of the 12most harmful species of Argentina (Liebermann, 1972). Rhammatocerus pictus was one of the dominant species in the outbreaks that occurred between 1989 and 1996 in southern Cordoba, northern La Pampa and western Buenos Aires provinces that seriously affected pastures and sunflower fields. Rhammatocerus pictus is known to perform sporadic migratory or dispersal flights to considerable extension (Carbonell, 1956; Liebermann, 1961) that were sometimes misidentified with locust ( Schistocerca cancellata) swarms. It also comes to lights in towns, sometimes in large numbers (Liebermann, 1961).
Graminivorous-type mandibles. Wild and cultivated gramineous plants, oats, corn, wheat, sugar cane.