Lovebugs are back: 9 facts about the bugs

ORLANDO, Fla. — Although the bugs don’t bite, they can still be extremely annoying for those who encounter them.

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The bugs plague the state twice a year in spring (late April and May) and in fall (August and September).

Here are nine facts about the bugs.

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1. Where they came from

Lovebugs migrated across the Gulf states from Central America and reached the Florida Panhandle in 1949.

2. Urban myth

The bugs are not the product of a botched experiment by the University of Florida, as the myth suggests. According to the myth, the school created bugs to help solve a growing mosquito problem.

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3. Mating ritual

People can identify the males by their smaller bodies and larger eyes, which help them find females in mating swarms. The females are larger and have smaller beadier eyes.

Female lovebugs will fly into swarms of male lovebugs. When a male unites with a female, their abdomens will stay attached for up to two days, although mating lasts about 12 hours. The male then dies and is dragged around by the female.

4. Lifespan

Adult lovebugs live about three to four days — long enough to mate, feed, disperse and deposit a batch of eggs. The female dies soon after she lays between 150 and 600 eggs.

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5. The bugs’ peak

Lovebugs can be seen almost every month of the year, but their populations peak in May and September for about four to five weeks.

6. When the bugs are gone

The adults have died, and it is a matter of months until the larvae developing in the ground mature into pupae and new adults emerge.

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7. Nicknames

The lovebug spends almost the entirety of its life copulating with its mate, hence their romantic nicknames, such as the honeymoon fly, telephone bug and kissybug.

8. Lovebugs serve a purpose

As larvae, they help decompose dead plant material. The larvae develop on decaying plant material and under cow manure.

9. They don’t bite

Lovebugs don’t sting either, nor do they carry infectious diseases.

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