Love Bugs… Everywhere!
The “Love Bug,” is a nuisance all Florida motorist are familiar with. Though these bugs neither bite nor sting, at certain times of the year their sheer numbers transform these insects into airborne hordes.
The adults splatter on windshields, lights, grills, and radiators of motor vehicles, and their dried remains are hard to remove. Suicidal pairs of love bugs have been known to cause overheating of motors when large numbers of them are drawn into the cooling systems of liquid-cooled engines. Unlike other bugs, something particular to them adversely affects the paint jobs on cars, pitting and etching the paint if their remains are left on vehicles for more than 48 hours.
Every May and September these sex-crazed critters become an annoyance bordering on intolerable as the air teems with mating pairs. But the “Love Bugs” haven’t always been part of the Floridian landscape. But Love Bugs are not solely a Floridian plague; they range throughout the Gulf states and into Mexico and Central America, as well as up into Georgia and South Carolina. But they seem particularly enamored of Florida. Lucky us!