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In initial pilot studies, ethyl-alcohol-based Melia extract, were formulated with palm oil and, in field trials in the southern Sahara (Republic of Niger), topically applied to adult S. gregaria flying on a flight mill and in comparison to resting locusts. Only low mortality rates (roughly 40%) could be achieved in this way, but the hyperlipemic competence of the treated insects was diminished by more than 60% compared to untreated control locusts. An equally large reduction in the hyperlipemic response to injection of synthetic adipokinetic hormone was also observed in imagoes to which Melia extracts had been topically applied while they were L2/L3 larvae, but then had still undergone a seemingly normal adult molting. Higher mortality rates were only observed when the locusts were injected with aqueous Melia extracts.