Love is in the air, and it has wings.
Cupid made his rounds in February, which can only mean one thing: It’s lovebug season.
As Gainesville residents and UF students prepare for summer, lovebugs are out in full force for breeding season. Some bugs lay eggs, while others leave their signature white splotches on windshields.
The bugs are found throughout the southeastern United States, said John Capinera, chairman of the department of Entomology and Nematology at UF. Infestation in Florida is heaviest in the area between Vero Beach and Orlando, especially in wet areas.
In Gainesville, the bugs breed in Paynes Prairie, he said, but they find a way to spread their love throughout the city.
“You can drive in any direction and encounter swarms of them,” he said.
Capinera said the bugs go through two mating cycles a year: one from April through May and again from August through September.
The bugs lay their eggs in areas with water, dead leaves, grass clippings and even cow manure, he said. Once the eggs hatch, larvae feed on the leaves until they grow into adults.
Without a known natural predator, the bugs thrive during breeding season.
Capinera said birds and other hunters steer clear from the bugs because they have orange on their bodies, which is normally a warning sign that a bug is poisonous.
The lovebugs shamelessly shag on car hoods and windshields while flirting with danger along roads and highways.
Some experts believe lovebugs are attracted to the exhaust fumes from automobiles.
Norman Leppla, professor of entomology and nematology at UF, said he believes the fumes mimic odors emitted from decaying organic matter found at breeding sites.
Capinera said lovebugs can damage cars because of a chemical reaction between the splattered bugs and the paint.
As students drive to campus for the start of Summer A classes, breeding season kicks into high gear and lovebugs flock to parking lots.
Some students aren’t happy with the bugs taking their business public.
Nicholas Hursey, an 18-year-old mechanical engineering sophomore, said he’s annoyed with the bugs whenever he’s driving his motorcycle.
“It’s a nuisance and a nightmare,” he said. “I would be parked at an intersection, and I will be sitting in the middle of a swarm.”
Because of the bugs’ presence in Gainesville, Hursey said he proclaimed May as “Lovebug Appreciation Month.”
“It’s so bad you can’t do anything about it,” he said. “So why not appreciate them?”
