Interview with an expert: How many more weeks of lovebug season? What to know
Love is in the air, literally, and it's being swept away and smashed into windshields all over Southwest Florida.
May is the final month of the spring lovebug season in the Sunshine State, and there are a few more weeks left in the annual reproduction ritual.
So we decided to ask an expert at the University of Florida about lovebug season and how and why they take to the air in May.
Here's what Norman Leppla, professor of entomology, had to say about the insects.
Has lovebug season arrived? Is it already over? How long does it last?
Generally, lovebug adults have synchronized emergence in Central Florida during April-May and August-September. Therefore, lovebug season has arrived for this spring-summer.
What exactly triggers the bugs, and why do they get smashed on our windshields?
Emergence of adult lovebugs is triggered by environmental factors, such as temperature and perhaps humidity. Males emerge before females early in the day and compete to mate with the females. Lovebugs are attracted to automobile exhaust so tend to aggregate along highways.
The yellow substance on windshields is smashed lovebug eggs.
What are the bugs doing during the rest of the year?
More: Will sargassum wreak havoc on SWFL beaches this summer?
Lovebugs spend most of the year as growing larvae under decaying vegetation. They actually are flies distantly related to mosquitoes. The larvae eventually pupate before adults emerge, i.e., they have four stages of development: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. The annual life cycle is described in “Living with Lovebugs”.
Do they all hatch and mate at once or does it vary north to south?
Adult lovebugs emerge earlier in the year in south Florida due to the warmer temperature relative to Central Florida. In a location, they mate, disperse and lay eggs within about two weeks.
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Lovebug season in Florida: How much longer will it last?
