Love Bugs

Seeing as how it's "Love Bug Season" I felt it was appropriate for me to write a post about them so all of you who live outside of Florida can understand the plight that befalls us here twice a year.

We call them Love Bugs. They are quite possibly the most annoying bugs you'll ever find!

Basically Love Bugs are little winged balls of acid that drift through the air in packs while perpetually mating. The major problems with these bugs is that they stick to the front of your car and as soon as they dry their acid "eats" through the clear coat of paint on your car. I looked them up on Wikipedia and this is what I found...

Love bug swarms can number in the hundreds of thousand and blanket an entire small town in a dense cloud of insects. The thick swarming of these slow flying, almost drifting, insects almost is reminiscent of snow fall. The swarms occur twice each year, first in late spring, then again in late summer. The spring swarm occurs during late April and May. The summer swarm occurs during late August and September. Swarms 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.



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 faster than fifty miles an hour. 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 [1]. Scrubbing deceased love bugs off the front of one's car immediately after the evening rush hour each day of their three-week "breeding season" is sometimes described as a twice-yearly ritual for high speed drivers in the Gulf South[citation needed]. The use of dryer sheets makes cleaning love bugs off your car much easier[citation needed]. Pouring soda on your windshield can also make the cleaning process easier. Driving on local streets at lower speeds for the breeding season is another alternative to having to scrape them off daily.

I also found it very interesting that some people believe that Love Bugs can be a predictor of the Hurricane Season to come.

There is a theory that love bugs give a clue as to whether there is going to be an active hurricane season. Florida, in 2004 saw a lot of love bugs prior to an active hurricane season. In 2005 and 2006, there were fewer love bugs and the state had relatively quiet hurricane years. This year (2007), in May, there are loads of love bugs and it is predicted that the Atlantic is to have a very active storm season from June to November. However, many people theorize that the lack of love bugs in 2005 and 2006 was mearly the resuly of the active hurricane season in 2004 and that the love bug population in 2007 is mearly the species at it's full force.






UPDATE:
my Sister provided me with some pictures of Tyler's truck covered in Love Bugs (since I JUST had my car washed...which spurred my need to write this blog...I had no pictures of my own to post.) Thanks Ash!!!