Florida the rules are different here Chapter XXIV

It's that time of the year in Florida- Lovebug Season. Try driving to Orlando or Cape Canaveral at this time of the year and your car will be plastered with these insects. I had to pick my brother-in-law up at the latter five or six years back. My car had to go straight to a car wash on arrival home. I was barely able to see through my windshield.

You got to love life in Florida.

Open Post- Jo's Cafe, Bright & Early

A sure sign of summer's arrival is the annual appearance of black swarms of curiously conjoined critters, all of them with an apparent death wish as your car approaches.

They are Plecia nearctica Hardy, aka "lovebugs."

In the interest of informing newcomers who may not know anything about them -- as well as longtime Floridians who may not know as much as they think they do -- Ken Gioeli, natural resources agent for the University of Florida Cooperative Extension Service in Fort Pierce, answers the musical question: "What's Lovebugs Got to Do With It?"

The look of lovebug

Male lovebugs are about one-quarter of an inch long; females are about one-third of an inch long.

Females are larger, Gioeli said, because about 70 percent of their bodies are ovaries, which can hold 300 to 350 eggs.

"So you get more splat from a female than from a male," he said. "Of course, you get the most splat when you hit a pair."

When lovebugs come to town

Moving up from their native Central America, lovebugs are now spread throughout the South. They were first reported in Florida in 1947 in Escambia County near Pensacola and arrived on the Treasure Coast in the late 1960s or early 1970s.

The University of Florida vehemently denies the rumor that its entomologists brought the bugs here.

Two flights of lovebugs occur each year -- late April through May and late August through September. Each flight lasts four to five weeks.

Our lovebug is here to stay

"No effective way to get rid of lovebugs has been found," Gioeli said.

Lovebugs have no natural predators in Florida, he added.

Lovebugs do perform a function in nature: Larvae eat decaying leaves, creating organic matter; and adults feed on nectar, helping pollinate plants.

Fifty ways to leave your lovebug

Driving through a swarm of lovebugs can be more than a nuisance. Windshields covered with the remains can obscure vision and increase the risk of accidents. Also, lovebug bodies can clog radiator fins, causing overheating. And the acidic remains can damage a car's finish if not removed within a few days.

These tips can help:

• Drive at night. Lovebugs reach peak activity between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. and stop flying at dusk.

• Put a screen in front of the grille to keep radiators from clogging and protect the paint.

• Wash off bugs as soon as possible.

• Waxing makes cleaning easier.

• Before driving, spread a coat of baby oil to ease removal.

Lovebug will keep us together

Not all conjoined lovebugs are in the act of mating.

If the male is turned around backward on the female, they've already mated, and he's trying to keep other suitors away.

Lovebug reproduction is a process of "sperm precedence," meaning the last male to have sex with the female is always the father.