ORLANDO, Fla. — Although the bugs don’t bite, they can still be extremely annoying for those who encounter them.
▶ WATCH CHANNEL 9 EYEWITNESS NEWS
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.
Read: DeSantis orders state-led investigation into apparent assassination attempt on Donald Trump
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.
Read: Sean Combs indicted, charged with racketeering, sex trafficking
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.
Read: TODAY: SpaceX to launch European satellite from Florida’s Space Coast
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.
Read: Titan implosion: Image of doomed submersible on sea floor released
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.
Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.