Lovebugs

[handman64]

We're heading down this weekend and was looking for a Lovebug update.
Have the nasty boogers arrived yet?

 

[DisneyBishops]

I noticed this last weekend that a few were flying. So I guess they are getting ready to swarm. Sept. is the fall month when they are usually bad here in florida. If i have to travel through them I just spray the front of my truck with Pam. Then they just rinse right off.

 

[handman64]

Thanks for the update. We've been going down at this time for the past few years and it seems to vary. Last year, they seemed to be worst when we were leaving. Just trying to get prepared.

 

[PanFanAL]

We have started seeing them here in So. Alabama. Not terrible yet, but they can not be her one day, and swarming the next.

 

[des1954]

I saw some on Sunday, but none since. We're about 25 miles west of FtW. However... they are able to appear out of nowhere in 60 seconds flat! I hate those damned lovebugs. It has been rumored for years that this is a U.F. experiment gone awry...but the actual truth is:

These lovable little dipterans (they aren't actually "bugs" despite their common name) spend 5-7 months of their lives as larvae in the leaf litter. The adults emerge synchronously twice a year (April-May and September - October) and can form large swarms that cloud the air. Many people don't realize that these flies are actually invaders from Central America and have been working their way northward along the coast. They have been spotted as far north as Wilmington, NC.

Dr. Timothy A. Mousseau
Dept of Biological Sciences
University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC 29208

Now, you know!!

 

[2goofycampers]

Sorry. Frank

 

[Born 2 Fish]

These lovable little dipterans (they aren't actually "bugs" despite their common name) spend 5-7 months of their lives as larvae in the leaf litter. The adults emerge synchronously twice a year (April-May and September - October) and can form large swarms that cloud the air. Many people don't realize that these flies are actually invaders from Central America and have been working their way northward along the coast. They have been spotted as far north as Wilmington, NC.
Now, you know!!

Sounds like a bunch of illegals to me !

 

[MadFF]

Ooookay, so what are we all talking about here? I don't recall seeing anything in the Disney literature about this....

 

[chilipyro]

They look like fireflies, only without the blink. When they swarm, they mate and fly connected - tail to tail, one of them flying forwards and the other backwards. Most of them seem to be in that state - hence the name.

I was in Tampa for business once, and they closed one of the major bridges because the thick layers of love bugs on the road were creating a slick that was causing all sorts of wrecks.

 

[des1954]

Ooookay, so what are we all talking about here? I don't recall seeing anything in the Disney literature about this....

Oh..ho..ho..NO! You will NEVER see anything about lovebugs in any form of tourist information. Lovebugs do not bite, nothing will eat them, but they will eat the paint off the front end of your vehicle if you don't wash their "splat" off immediately. Here's what they look like:



They earned the name "lovebugs" because they fly in pairs while mating.

Would you like more info?

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/MG068

 

[Born 2 Fish]

A bunch of nasty little baggers !!
Windshield splatter'ers !!