We are about to be hit with those blasted lovebugs again. They land all over anything and everything. They get in your hair, land on food or drink when you try to eat outside, die by the thousands on your windshield, lights, grills and are very hard to remove. To get rid of the mass of deceased love bugs that shellacked themselves to your car's finish, I have help. There is a product called Spray and Wash that can help clean them up. Simple Green can help too. They can cause your car to overheat if they get drawn into the cooling system of liquid cooled engines. These are some bad bugs. I feel no love for them at all. Okay, maybe a little.
The love bug, Plecia nearctica, is a member of the family of march flies. It is also known as the honeymoon fly, telephone bug, kissy bug or double-headed bug. The adult is a small, flying insect common to parts of Central America and the southeastern United States, especially along the Gulf Coast. The adult love bug feeds on the nectar of flowering plants. Upon reaching maturity the love bug spends almost the entirety of its life copulating with its mate, hence its numerous romantic nicknames. Think of it like this: they meet-and-greet and date-and-mate all in one fun-packed evening.
"Once large enough, larva will spin cocoons in
which they will undergo metamorphosis and emerge
as fully mature flying adults. This change will
usually take 1-2 weeks. As flying adults, males
have one thing on their minds: find females".
And just how is that different from human males, pray tell!!!
Folklore says they might be a result of an experiment gone wrong in a Florida lab. Mixing a mosquito with a genetically altered fly to create an enemy for mosquito larva. See what can happen when you mess with Mother Nature!
