Dramatic footage captures an "astonishing" swarm of locusts swarm through farmland and destroy crops.
The short-horned grasshoppers are capable of devouring the same amount of crops as 2,500 people would each day.
They affected farms across Lanteri in Argentina and then headed for the large city of Santa Fe. Authorities say they headed across Argentina from neighbouring Paraguay.
Lanteri community president Pipo Garcia described the swarm as "astonishing" and said he has never seen anything like it.
In the video, one of several posted on social media, the creatures are seen filling the air above fields and roads in the remote rural region.
National Service of Agri-Food Health and Quality (SENASA) believes the creatures are the Schistocerca cancellata species of locust in the subfamily Cyrtacanthacridinae, which have an insatiable appetite for crops of wheat, corn and oats used for cattle.
It is understood the National Service of Vegetal Health of Paraguay informed to SENASA about the presence of locusts on its border with Argentina on May 12. It is unclear what measures, if any, were deployed following this information.
The locusts can travel up to 65 miles every day.
Other countries in South America have been made aware of the presence.
