Here in Central Florida, love bugs have been a spring and fall problem for decades. They are an invasive species, so they have always been a concern.
We could count on them coating our windshields every spring, and their sticky, acidic guts eat away at the paint on our cars. Special bug removal additive for your wiper fluid was commonly stacked up on the aisles of stores in the spring. Cleaning your windshield and washing your car was routine.
But over the past few years, they’ve all but disappeared, which seems like a good thing, but the scary thing is that scientists have no idea why. For some reason, they just stopped breeding a few years ago. Nobody saw it coming, just after a year or two, people started asking "Where are the lovebugs?”, and scientist don’t have an answer.
One scientist said since they were an invasive species, there is no grant money to study the issue. If an invasive species goes away, who cares, right? But scientists are concerned that whatever could wipe out an entire species, even if it’s invasive, may be wiping out other species as well.
So the love bug problem solved itself, and we have no idea why.
Love bugs are top of mind when I think about this shit. When I moved here 20-years ago they were straight obnoxious. And YES! People advised me to get the guts off my clear coat ASAP. As you said, acidic little fuckers.
Last year I saw some in the driveway, didn’t realize it was that September already. “Ah hell, here we go.” That was the last of them I saw in 2024. I expect none, or close enough, this year.
Here in Central Florida, love bugs have been a spring and fall problem for decades. They are an invasive species, so they have always been a concern.
We could count on them coating our windshields every spring, and their sticky, acidic guts eat away at the paint on our cars. Special bug removal additive for your wiper fluid was commonly stacked up on the aisles of stores in the spring. Cleaning your windshield and washing your car was routine.
But over the past few years, they’ve all but disappeared, which seems like a good thing, but the scary thing is that scientists have no idea why. For some reason, they just stopped breeding a few years ago. Nobody saw it coming, just after a year or two, people started asking "Where are the lovebugs?”, and scientist don’t have an answer.
One scientist said since they were an invasive species, there is no grant money to study the issue. If an invasive species goes away, who cares, right? But scientists are concerned that whatever could wipe out an entire species, even if it’s invasive, may be wiping out other species as well.
So the love bug problem solved itself, and we have no idea why.
Love bugs are top of mind when I think about this shit. When I moved here 20-years ago they were straight obnoxious. And YES! People advised me to get the guts off my clear coat ASAP. As you said, acidic little fuckers.
Last year I saw some in the driveway, didn’t realize it was that September already. “Ah hell, here we go.” That was the last of them I saw in 2024. I expect none, or close enough, this year.