The Lovebug, Tarts of the Insect World

The Lovebug, Tarts of the Insect World

From the lips of George Jones flow the words: “It’s the little bitty teeny weeny thing they call the Lovebug.” The lovebug has been the subject of songs, poetry, books and websites. In spite of the sweet words written and spoken in regards to this little bug, it is anything but sweet. Quite frankly I find them disgusting. This weekend I was in Galveston with a friend. We experienced first hand the lovebug in all of it's copulating glory and I must admit at times I felt like a used mattress in a rooms-by-the-hour sleaze motel.

A little bit of history about the lovebug. The lovebug, Plecia nearctica, is a member of the family of march flies. The males are 1/4 inch, and females are 1/3 inch in length. The lovebug starts life as an egg. The egg will hatch into larvae which will feed on decaying vegetation. The lovebug will spend five to seven months in this stage of life. Once the larvae matures it will spend seven to ten days in the pupal stage. At the end of the pupae stage the lovebug will mature to adulthood. Adult females will live for only two to three days. There are two mating seasons throughout the year. In the spring and in the fall; April to May and then August to September. During the mating season the lovebugs will form swarms with numbers into the thousands. The flights occur during the day hours when temperatures are above 68º. During mating the male and female attach themselves at the rear of the abdomen and remain that way at all times, even in flight, hence the name ‘lovebug.’ After mating the male will die. He is then dragged around by the female until she lays her eggs.

The lovebugs will accumulate on any object during mating. Landing on anything as they drift about and most annoyingly on people. Thousands of bugs were splattered on the front of the car and on the windshield. Their chemical makeup makes them devasting to the paint and chrome of automobiles. If allowed to stay on the body of the car the chemicals will destroy the paint. The massive numbers can clog radiators making cars overheat. When splattered on the windshield they begin to obstruct the visibility. Despite the chemical make up they are quite timid as they do not sting or bite. They are delicate insects, with very little pressure they can be killed.

In spite of their fragile design they can be quite tenacious. We conducted a completely unscientific experiment. We wanted to determine the average staying power of the female lovebug on the windshield of a moving vehicle. We determined, we’ll say on a closed course, that the average female can hold onto the windshield up to approximately 70 mph before she loses her grip. One herculean female hung on to the windshield until we reached 80 mph. She did not lose her grip at this point. The windshield wipers were utilized to facilitate her departure. Of course all this time the poor male is being whipped about and thrashed into the windshield all the while by being attached to the female by his, well, his abdomen we’ll say. Now, my friend, who was quite unnerved by this fact and all man grabbed his crotch and expressed his dismay by shouting … “Oh My _ _ _ _ !” Now, me being female, I found this extremely humorous, but I was quickly educated, kindheartedly of course, on the subject of the cold hearted nature of the female gender, if I remember correctly the term vice grip was uttered. Now, I countered this notion by stating that if the males could keep that thing out of places they KNOW are going to get them into trouble this type of tragedy would not occur. The entire disaster was then blamed on the pheromones of the female. It was concluded that ultimately all females are solely responsible for the demise of all males which is such a typical male perspective. My final response to this exchange was typically female: ‘Whatever’

I had always been a little curious about the lovebug and I had wondered what they are and what they look like. Well, I wonder no more! I imagined two bugs resembling ladybug couples. I suppose they could be viewed as the phornographic version of a ladybug couple with absolutely no concept of too much public displays of affection. Such a precious name for such a disgusting and annoying insect. If you ever have the displeasure of experiencing the swarming orgy of the lovebug during mating season perhaps you will share my opinion of these tiny little tarts of the insect world.

Sharon

Information compiled from the following websites:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_bug
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/MG068