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| Love Bugs swarming on Spanish Needles |
Like clockwork the Love Bugs have returned to menace drivers across Central Florida. Scientifically they are Plecia nearctica, small black flies with red thoraxes. Males are about 1/4 inch long, females are slightly bigger (1/3 inch).
These bugs are members of the family Bibionidae and are also known as March flies. Several species of March flies are native to Florida, however, Plecia nearctica are recent invaders from the west.
While giving my car a good coat of wax to protect against the bugs this afternoon I was swarmed by thousands of the amorous bugs. They return every March and September to do untold damage to paint jobs across Florida.
WHERE DID THEY COME FROM?
Fact or fiction? Sometime in the 1950s an experiment gone horribly wrong at the University of Florida produced a pesky bug with no apparent purpose. The strange-looking insect — commonly known as the lovebug — managed to escape from researchers and began to spread rapidly, wreaking havoc on people and cars. Most people have heard, or told, this story in some form or another, but it's just not true.
The love bug, which is actually a fly whose scientific name is Plecia nearctica, migrated naturally along the Gulf of Mexico. It was first identified in southeastern Texas in the early 1900s and has since spread through the Gulf Coast states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, as well as Georgia and South Carolina.
Southern Louisiana experienced flights of lovebugs during the 1920s. The species was described in scientific literature starting in 1940 from specimens collected in Mississippi. First reports of their presence in Florida were made in 1947 in Escambia County (Pensacola area). Subsequent reports indicate their presence in Leon County (Tallahassee area) in 1955-56 and Alachua - Marion Counties (Gainsville-Ocala area) in 1964-65. Since that time, flights have progressively moved southward. In 1974, specimens were collected in Homestead near the Florida Keys.
Lovebugs also have moved northward and have been reported from Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina. Two flights of lovebugs occur each year. The spring flight occurs during late April and May. A second flight occurs during late August and September. Flights extend over periods of 4 to 5 weeks. Mating takes place almost immediately after emergence of the females. Adult females live only 2-3 days.
AUTOMOBILES ATTRACT LOVE BUGS
Researchers have found that automobile exhaust fumes, heat from the engines and the vibrations of the vehicles themselves all attract love bugs that splatter against the fronts of cars. The results can be nasty, causing cars to overheat, reducing driver visibility and damaging paint on vehicles. Native Floridians recommend washing cars within one day to reduce paint damage, and using a hood deflectors or screens to help protect the paint.
WHY ARE LOVE BUGS ATTACHED?
Love bugs look strange when flying together attached. Why do they do this? They are mating. During the mating process, the male love bug attaches to the female love bug and only disengages during the daytime while resting on vegetation never during flight or at night. Successful mating takes as much as 12 hours, and the female love bug dies within 86 hours of laying eggs.
LOVE BUG MEMES AND CARTOONS
Best advice we can give visitors and new residents of Florida is to plan to wash that car daily in May and September.
Another strategy is to drive only at night or in the rain. Also avoid swamps and wetlands, and definitely stay off I-95, I-4, I-75, I-10 and the Florida Turnpike. Any native Floridian can tell you love bugs are drawn to CO2 which cars emit in large quantities as they burn fossil fuels (gas). Try mowing your lawn in May and watch the love bugs swarm the mower.
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| Driving in Florida this May looks something like this. . . |
These memes and cartoons are not that far from reality in Florida 2019. The swarms are massive this year.
LOVE BUGS ROOST ON PALMETTO AND GOLDENROD
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| Love Bugs roosting on Goldenrod |
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| Love Bugs roosting on palmetto. In May palmetto is favorite roost and why the bugs swarm along interstates and swamps. |
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| Love Bugs on Emperor's Candlesticks, May 2019. |
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| Love Bugs on Goldenrod, closeup. |
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| Love Bugs on Goldenrod. |
LARVAE AID GROWING PLANTS
Female Love Bugs lay from 100 to 350 eggs which are deposited beneath decaying vegetation. Larvae (immature stage) feed on decaying plant material and live on the soil surface just beneath the decaying organic matter. Larvae perform a beneficial function by converting the plant material into organic components which can again be used by the growing plants. After larvae mature, they transform into pupae. The pupal stage requires about 7 to 10 days.
Particularly damaging are the female love bugs egg sacs. They are more acidic than the rest of the parts of the love bug and will pit car paint if not removed quickly. To remove the bugs a soapy water solution left to sit on the car for a time will loosen the bugs so they wipe off easily.
Adult Love Bugs are harmless in the natural environment and do not sting or bite. They will take the paint off of a car if not quickly removed—after finding their demise thereon—due to their slightly acidic body chemistry. Their body chemistry has a nearly neutral 6.5 pH but may become acidic (to 4.25pH) if left dead and drying on a car's hood. The females egg masses in particular result in pits and etches in automotive paint and chrome if not quickly removed.
Love Bugs feed on the nectar of various plants, especially sweet clover, goldenrod and brazilian pepper. I've also noticed large numbers of the flies on Dotted Horsemint. Usually, Love Bug flights are restricted to daylight hours and temperatures above 68°F. (20° C.). At night lovebugs rest on low growing vegetation. As our current temperatures are always above 68°F. one can expect to encounter Love Bugs any time, though in theory they do not fly as well or often after dark.
Above, love bugs on palmetto close up, below, love bugs swarming on
The swarms have been reported flying at altitudes up to 1,480 feet (450 meters).
In recent years the August-September Love Bug flights have been substantially reduced across the central peninsula of Florida due to drought and predation. This year there has been just enough rain -- apparently -- to encourage a massive flight.
Larvae aggregate in extremely high numbers in pastures and other grassy habitats. This makes them vulnerable to foraging birds. Love Bug larvae have been found in the gizzards of robins and quail.
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| Love Bug Danger Zone: I-95 |
HOW TO AVOID LOVE BUG SPATTER ON YOUR CAR
By traveling at night motorists can avoid the bulk of the insects; Love Bugs reach peak activity at 10:00 am. Traveling at slower speeds reduces the number of bugs that will be spattered. A large screen placed in the front of the grill will keep the radiator fins from clogging, and will protect the finish on the front of the car. If a large screen is not used in front of the grill, at least place a small screen behind the grill in front of the radiator.
CLEANUP AND DISPOSAL
Spattered bugs should be washed off the car as soon as possible. Love Bugs are more easily removed, and the chance of damaging the car's finish is lessened, if the car has been recently waxed. When the remains of spattered bugs are left on an unwaxed car for several days, the finish will often be permanently damaged. Soaking for several minutes with water aids in their removal. When Love Bugs are numerous, some motorists spread a light film of baby oil over the front of the hood, above the windshield and on the grill and bumper. This practice will make their removal a simpler task.
URBAN LEGENDS
Urban legend holds that love bugs are synthetic—the result of a University of Florida genetics experiment gone wrong. This is the story I remember from my youth.
Research has shown that migration explained the introduction of the Love Bug into Florida and other southeastern states, contrary to the urban myth that the University of Florida created them by manipulating DNA to control mosquito populations.
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Love Bugs will try to get inside as they prepare to lay their eggs. They are often seen trapped in spider webs on Florida houses.
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2019's Love Bug Swarm is particularly egregious due to a very warm and relatively wet winter. The next few days promise more unusually wet days across Central Florida which will dampen the swarm, temporarily, but cause an explosion of love bug birth when skies clear and temperatures rise anew. Expect more love bugs for the remainder of May and a return visit in September.
FLORIDA LOVE BUGS
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Once inside the bugs lay their eggs and quickly die.
SWARM EVOLUTION
MORE ABOUT LOVE BUGS
Everything you ever wanted to know about Florida's love bugs can be found at the University of Florida's Entomology & Nematology website at this link:FLORIDA LOVE BUGS
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