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Love Bug Update
- Thread starter disneytopdog
- Start date
coasterphil
Well-Known Member
I've seen a decent number here on campus. No swarms or anything but its been more than an occasional sighting. Hopefully that doesn't mean that they are just beginning to arrive.
Dragonrider1227
Well-Known Member
When I saw this thread, I thought Herbie was making appearances at the parks :lol:
PeeplMoovr
Active Member
I saw one alone today on my windshield. Guess it hasn't found a mate yet. :lookaroun
TTATraveler
Active Member
The love bugs weren't around when I left my house to run errands this morning. When I cam back, I counted at least 10 pairs outside on the wall of the house. None were thankfully on my car or windshield.
Ringo8n24
Active Member
They are horrible here. I travel about 6 miles total to and from work, but you would think that I went on a drive hours long. My car is covered and so is my windshield. Keep in mind, I have had the car for about 3 weeks and it is white...shows every single love bug that comes in contact with it.:brick:
PanfanAL
Member
I have seen a few here in SE Alabama. But not like the usual. I can always tell they are coming by the number of spider webs in the yard. The spiders always seem to know when they are coming. And as far as a purpose, I always heard they were a manmade species that was brought about to control the mosquitos, but instead of eating the mosquitos, all they do is reproduce.
RWilliams
Premium Member
I had always heard that they were a scientific experiment gone wrong too. I've been doing some reading on them though and it appears that that is just urban legend.
from about.com:
Origin of the Beast:
Known in the scientific world as Plecia nearctica Hardy, the love bug is believed to have originated in South America and traveled into Texas, Louisiana, and then Florida for the innocent tasks of mating and migrating. They stay mostly in the southern states, rarely traveling further than South Carolina, because of their intolerance for cold weather. Surprisingly, they live most of their lives in the larvae and pupae stages, with adult females surviving a mere 2-3 days.
Urban Legends Abound:
It is theorized - without much merit - that the love bugs were a product of a University of Florida experiment gone wrong. In an attempt to control the mosquito population, UF scientists invented sterile female crossbreeds that would mate with male mosquitos and doom the population. But the scientists accidentally created males, too, and released them into the wild.
cdunbar
Active Member
The old rumor is that some professor at UF was trying to create a special type of bug, I don't remember what the purpose of the bug was to be I do apologize. Anyways the old legend says that the bug was created and the professor was also teaching at the time and failed a few students who were none to happy about it. Neways the students thought that the only way they could really get back at the professor was just to ruin the professors experiment, neways this is just a big huge urban legend but the problem with the bugs is this, birds or other bugs can't eat them because they're acidic and on top of that no insecticide can kill them so thats why they overrun so. Don't ask me why we have all these great minds in the world and no one can figure out how to kill the da*n things....:shrug:
wdwdude423
New Member
I remember one year I went to WDW for NOJ and on the way up there(from Miami) we stopped at a rest stop and as soon as we stepped out they swarmed all over us. I think it's funny how they attach to each other but when they start attaching to me....:fork:
