Lovebug Season is Starting Up - Some Interesting Facts

https://www.wftv.com/news/local/lovebugs-are-back-9-facts-about-bugs/HJMD7PV4HNH7HO3TL2DDNGPU5E/

1. Lovebugs migrated across the Gulf states from Central America and reached the Florida Panhandle in 1949.

2. The bugs are not the product of a botched experiment by the University of Florida, as the myth suggests. According to the myth, the school created bugs to help solve a growing mosquito problem.

3. When a male unites with a female, their abdomens will stay attached for up to two days, although mating lasts about 12 hours. The male then dies and is dragged around by the female.

4. Adult lovebugs live about three to four days — long enough to mate, feed, disperse and deposit a batch of eggs. The female dies soon after she lays between 150 and 600 eggs.

5. Lovebugs can be seen almost every month of the year, but their populations peak in May and September for about four to five weeks.

6. When grass is cut and the excess falls to the ground, it creates a covering known as thatch, where immature lovebugs live and eat. Through this process, they redistribute essential nutrients back into the ground that are beneficial to plants and the environment.

7. Wind currents have lifted these insects up as high as 1500 feet in the air

8. Lovebugs are attracted to cars and engines, or pretty much anything that produces heat. Female lovebugs are attracted to UV-irradiated aldehydes, which are used in vehicle exhaust fumes. As such, lovebugs can mistake these chemicals for odors that are emitted from decaying organic matter at egg-laying sites.

9. The first species was first described in 1940 by D.E. Hardy, but was in Louisiana as early as 1911.

10. Lovebugs have acidic bodies and when they die the acidity sits on whatever surface it is on. Sadly, it’s usually on our windshield, mirrors and front end of our cars, effecting the protective coating or paint if left on without washing off.

11. Macerated lovebugs can become acidic within 24 hours, so no permanent damage is caused if the surface is cleaned before the bug splatter is baked by the sun.

12. Lovebugs are small, herbivorous insects, and they have neither the mandibles nor speed to hunt down mosquitoes.








But there is hope! Florida scientists are reporting a decline in love bug populations.

https://www.clickorlando.com/news/florida/2024/09/20/are-lovebugs-disappearing-from-florida-heres-what-we-know/