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By Mike Patrick, Jr., M.D.
www.pediacast.org
Native Floridians will know what I'm talking about. So will those who visit the Sunshine State in the months of May or September. The rest of you will simply have to trust me on this one.
There's a bug in Florida. Most call it the lovebug, but a few others refer to it as the honeymoon fly or kissybeatle. It spends most of its life in a grub-like form, feeding on decaying plant material. But twice a year--in May and September--the adults emerge en masse. They invade fields and towns and tourist attractions. They swarm roadways, sometimes reducing visibility with the intensity of a winter snowstorm. They copulate nearly continuously. Then, within a few days, they die... but not before leaving behind millions of eggs, which hatch into larvae and start the cycle again.
Old timers will tell you lovebugs are relative newcomers to the state, which is true. So where'd they come from?
Well, when something that wasn't suddenly is, you have a situation ripe for the rumor mill. Some say scientists at the University of Florida engineered the critters. They say the scientists designed the female lovebug to mate with the male mosquito. The story goes that such a union would result in no offspring, gradually reducing the number of mosquito larvae. But then the unthinkable occurred. They accidentally created a male... and he escaped! With no natural predators (due to the awful taste) and with a state full of eligible females, the little guy went crazy, and soon millions of lovebugs populated every county from the panhandle to the keys.
Another version goes like this: Scientists created the lovebug by crossing a fly and a mosquito. The resulting organism was suppose to eat mosquito larvae. But when they released their creation into the wild, scientists discovered the lovebug didn't want anything to do with baby mosquitos. It simply wanted to copulate. And to this day, millions of Floridian lovebugs have scientists at the University of Florida to thank for their abundance.
Of course, these are just stories, likely started by ardent Florida State supporters. The truth is lovebugs have been around longer than any American university. Known scientifically as Plecia nearctica, these flies came from Central America.
D.E. Hardy was the first to describe them in the United States. The year was 1940 and the place was Galveston, Texas. Hardy surmised these bugs had entered the country as stowaways aboard Central American merchant ships harboring in Galveston and New Orleans. By 1940, they had spread throughout the Gulf States, most notably in Texas and Louisiana.
Then they moved East.
In 1949, the first Floridian lovebug was collected in the panhandle's Escambia county. From there, they invaded the state, and by 1970--when L.A. Hetrick studied them--lovebugs occupied a quarter of Florida's real estate.
Hetrick studied the lovebug intensely. He discovered their flights reach altitudes higher than 1000 feet and swarms extend several kilometers over the Gulf of Mexico. Larvae resemble tiny caterpillars and are slate gray with dark heads. Each Spring and Fall, the larvae transform into adults, which are small black flies with two slender wings and a stubby red thorax.
Adults continue to emerge for about a month, but the individual's life span is relatively short. Within a day or two of emerging, males find female mates. They grab the female and attach their rear abdomens together. Once copulation occurs, the male dies. He does not, however, un-attach. The female drags the male wherever she goes for another day or two, lays her eggs, then joins her mate in lovebug heaven. Some life, huh?
Fortunately, adult lovebugs do not bite or sting. Actually, they don't even eat. Turns out they get their fill of nutrition as larvae, when they eat massive amounts of decaying plant material, enough to earn them the title "compost extraordinaire."
What they do is swarm. Every city. Every town. And now every county. Across the state, hordes of adults take to the skies. They are particularly attracted to roadways. Scientists (at the University of Florida, of course) report the lovebug's attraction to gasoline and diesel fumes. These vapors summon them to the increased warmth of sun-drenched pavement and the aphrodisiac-like effect of automotive vibrations.
Of course, the motorists are not impressed. Lovebugs splatter on windshields and lights and radiator grills by the millions. They get sucked into cooling systems and cause engines to overheat. Their dried remains are difficult to remove, and if left for more than a day or two, their acidic body fluids begin to pit and etch car paint. Leave them on longer, and bacteria begin digesting the remains, leaving behind a more acidic sludge that eats through the paint more quickly.
So they have to come off.
Trouble is dead dried lovebugs stick like glue and they re-accumulate faster than you can remove them. There are as many myths on how to remove dead lovebugs from cars as there are myths on how lovebugs came to be. PAM cooking spray, WD-40, baby shampoo, dryer sheets, dish washing liquid, Windex--all of these reportedly work. But before you try any of these methods, know this: Many others warn the harmful effects of these agents may be more damaging to your paint than the lovebug itself.
What about the experts? What do they recommend? Well, the good folks at the University of Florida say you should soak car-bound lovebugs with water for 5 minutes. Wait 15-20 minutes. Then scrub them off with a soft cloth. Hmm... those Gators again. Makes you wonder how they know so much about these crazy copulators.
There's one more interesting fact--I mean myth--about lovebugs. Some say they give a clue to the upcoming hurricane season. 2004, the year of Charley and Frances and Jeanne, saw lots of lovebugs. 2005 and 2006 were quiet years for lovebugs and hurricanes--at least in Florida. May 2007 saw a huge number of lovebugs. What does this mean for this year's hurricane season in Florida? Time will tell, but if you are a believer in such things, you might consider running out to take advantage of those tax-free days for storm supplies!
** UPDATE: I have a great collection going for 101 Magical Moments, but we still need more stories. If you've had a Magical Moment thanks to the efforts of a Disney Cast Member, be sure to send me your story at 101magicalmoments@gmail.com.
Dr Mike is a board-certified pediatrician and host of Pediacast: A Pediatric Podcast for Parents. You can read his blog, listen to the podcast, and sign up for his newsletter at www.pediacast.org.
COPYRIGHT 2006 MIKE PATRICK JR
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