Love bug
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Love bug | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
  |
||||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
| Binomial name | ||||||||||||||
| Plecia nearctica Hardy |
The love bug (also known as march fly, honeymoon fly, telephone bug, kissybug and double-headed bug) (scientific name Plecia nearctica) is a small flying insect common to the southern United States, especially along the Gulf Coast. During the semi-annual love bug flights or "seasons", the insects are commonly found spattered on the hoods and windshields of automobiles. The body of the love bug is acidic and can affect the paint on vehicles if not washed off. Love bugs seem to be attracted to lighter colored objects (white fence posts are usually blackened with them during the peak season), but can accumulate anywhere.[citation needed]
The love bug was first described in 1940 by D. E. Hardy of Galveston, Texas. At that time, he reported the incidence of love bugs to be widespread, but most common in Texas and Louisiana. By the end of the 20th century, however, the species had spread heavily to all areas bordering the Gulf of Mexico, as well as Georgia, South Carolina, and other parts of Central America. L. A. Hetrick, writing in 1970, found it very widespread in Florida and described its flights as reaching altitudes of 300 m to 450 m and extending several kilometers over the Gulf.
Contents |
[edit] Biology and Behavior
Love bug larvae grow up in grassy areas and feed on dead vegetation. The adult love bug feeds on the nectar of flowering plants. Upon reaching maturity the love bug spends the entirety of its life copulating with its mate, hence its numerous romantic nicknames. The male and female attach themselves at the rear of the abdomen and remain that way at all times, even in flight. In fact, after mating, the male dies and is dragged around by the female until she lays her eggs. Females lay up to 350 eggs in debris, and about 20 days later the eggs hatch into larvae. The larvae may live for months before passing into adulthood.[citation needed]
Commercial use of cut sod for "instant" green lawns transports great numbers of the larvae of this insect, once found only in agricultural areas, to all of the newly built developments sprouting up in the towns of the regions where its numbers are increasing so rapidly as a new phenomenon. They might be 1 cm for males, and 2 cm for females.
Love bug flights can number in the hundreds of thousands. The slow, drifting movement of the insects is almost reminiscent of snow fall. The flights occur twice each year, first in late spring, then again in late summer. The spring flight occurs during late April and May. The summer flight occurs during late August and September. Flights extend over periods of 4 to 5 weeks.[1] Mating takes place almost immediately after emergence of the females. Adult females live only 2-3 days.
Its character as a public nuisance is due not to its bite or sting (as it is not capable of either), but to its apparently highly acidic body chemistry. Because airborne love bugs exist in enormous numbers near highways, they die en masse on automobile windshields, hoods, and radiator grills when the vehicles travel at high speeds. If left for more than an hour or two, the remains become dried and extremely difficult to remove, and their acidity pits and etches automotive paint and chrome.[2]
Insects remains may be scrubbed from cars using dryer sheets, though no scientific evidence exists that shows they are more or less efficient than any other material. The application of a vegetable or petroleum jelly coating can be effective in preventing the bugs from sticking to automobiles.[citation needed]
[edit] Folklore
Urban legend holds that love bugs are synthetic: the result of a University of Florida genetics experiment gone wrong.[2] Scientific speculation about the love bug abounds: As the creature seems to have no natural enemies its population is perceived to be reaching enormous levels. This is correct; love bugs are not a favored food of most insectivores, but they are harmless and merely do not taste good, resulting in their not being eaten. While many predators, including red fire ants, don't eat them, love bugs' larvae -- and some adults -- are food for birds such as quail and robins, and also, spiders. Some think that the apparent population explosion may for the largest part be explained by the fact that with increasing automobile use and rising population, the nuisance that love bugs may be has come to more widespread notice since at the time of Hardy's study, the density of the road network and the extent of personal transport ownership in the species' area of occurrence was much lower than it is today. Love bugs are beneficial because their larvae help recycle organic material and improve the soil.
Research of L. L. Buschman showed that migration explained the introduction of the love bug into Florida, contrary to the urban myth that the University of Florida imported them to help control the mosquito population.[3]
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0015-4040(197003)53%3A1%3C23%3ABOT%22PN%3E2.0.CO%3B2-5 accessed September 21, 2007
- ^ a b Love Bugs article on Snopes
- ^ Leppla, Norman C. Living With Lovebugs. University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS). January 2007. Last accessed 2007-09-26
[edit] References
- Hardy, D. E. (1940). "Studies in New World Plecia (Bibionidae: Diptera)". Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 13: 15-27.
- Hetrick, L. A. (1970). "Biology of the "love-bug". Plecia nearctica (Diptera: Bibionidae)". Florida Entomologist 53 (1): 23-26.
- Denmark, H.A. and F.W. Mead (1998/rev. 2001). Featured Creatures: Lovebug – Plecia nearctica Hardy. University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. Retrieved on 2006-07-20.
