By Angie Smith
UHCLIDIAN STAFF

It begins as a black sea in the distance, then as the waves tumble closer, two attached bodies come into focus. Splat, your windshield is now riddled with Plecia nearctica carcasses.

For those who do not have a degree in entomology, the common name for Plecia nearctica is lovebug.

"The life cycle for a lovebug is short, May to September, when the female lays an average of 350 eggs," said Harold Denmark, entomologist and author at the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

The odd mating behavior of the lovebug is another way of identifying the insect. Male lovebugs grab females in swarms and the pair falls to the ground to copulate.

After copulating, the male turns 180 degrees facing in the opposite direction and dies after transferring his sperm. The female lovebug lays her eggs while still attached to her dead lover. She dies a few days later.

"The increase in the number of lovebugs this year is because of excess rain over the past six months," said John Horton, a state certified pest control applicator with Coastal Termite and Pest Control.

"There is no chemical to specifically treat these harmless bugs, but they should start slowly disappearing," Horton said.

That is pleasing news to two UH-Clear Lake students who described their encounters with the lovebugs as very annoying.

"I hate them because they are on the front of my car," said Shannon Rountree, psychology student.

"On the first day of school, I parked three times to try and get away from them," said Margarita Trevino, graduate student in professional writing with applied graphic design. "I had a black cardigan on and the bugs blended in. I looked down and I started to freak out because I was going to have lovebug 'juice' on me."

Lovebugs, though sometimes annoying, do have a purpose. In the larval stage, lovebugs become a vital part of the ecosystem by eating decomposing vegetation and enriching the soil.

Next year when "love is in the air," remember these tiny creatures help keep Mother Earth in balance.

Top of Page | Front Page