Talk:Love bug

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[edit] Plagurism

I noticed that this article looks like it was pretty much stolen verbatim from http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/misc/lovebug.htm

Actually, I took the information from four books, three articles (I'm a librarian), and maybe three websites (including the one you cite) -- plus my own experiences, which are what led me to write the article in the first place. I reworked the factual information from all these sources, which is how Wikipedia articles are created, but the information is fact, so the data is going to be essentially the same in any article you read. However, I've just reread the website and it does not read the same. --Michael K. Smith 01:00, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Attracted to Shopping Carts?

Lately, I have noticed that lovebugs are strictly attracted to the shopping carts. I know this may be weird, but I am an associate of Publix supermarket in Florida as a bagger. As it was time for me to get the carts out of the roads and put them back to the store, I could tell that the lovebugs were always on the shopping carts and when they fly away, they just come back to the carts again. Has anyone noticed this before? It's just strange, really.

-- Drakky 05:26, 31 May 2006 (UTC)


Anyone ever noticed the orange bubble like dot present on love bugs before the wings? Anyone happen to know the purpose?

[edit] Genetic Experiment

So, the whole story about them being some kind of genetic experiment is just that, a story? That sucks, i was kinda hoping it was true. As for the above comments: Drakky--lovebugs are strictly attracted to EVERYTHING, trust me; Anonymous guy: I have no idea. --Wikiwow 22:22, 19 September 2006 (UTC)

Hey i just recently stained my porches and they are extremely attracted to that as well. As well as my white doors. its a battle to open the doors of fear they will enter. they also have seemed to come thru the cracks of the doors at the bottom so i have to keep a towl at the bottom of my brand new house doors. Does anybody know how to get rid of them?? i would appreciate it. yours truly, Sick Love Bug Blues

Yeah, they really seem to love bright white surfaces, they can't seem to get enough of our porch. I don't know how to get rid of them, but that guy down at the bottom says a bowl of water will work O_o. Love bug season's waning anyways, so at least we'll get a break until next year. --Wikiwow 20:33, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] PRAYING MANTIS BUFFET

MY DOOR IS COVERED IN LOVE BUGS AND PRAYING MANTIS HAVE BEEN EATING THEM.SHOULD I PUT THAT IN THE MAIN PAGE

Where to start? First, you dont have to shout... Secondly, sign your edits (I dont normally sign my edits either but I never got to tell someone to do it). Third, If you wanna put it in, put it in! If its not important then someone will revert it! 65.34.72.52 02:54, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Lifespan?

I've heard that individual love bugs live for only one day, and then die. I'd really like to know more factual information about these things. Like, how do the males and females find each other to hook up their butts? What's the nature of the hookup, and do they remain joined until they die? Does the male care that he's dragged around backwards - or is the male somehow controlled by the female, since they seem to crawl and fly in sync? Where do they lay their eggs, and how is it that the eggs survive the Florida heat and the wintertime cold snaps? - Brian Kendig 16:24, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] JUST GOT BACK

we just left florida, best way to get rid of these annoying things is to get a small bowl, fill it with clean fresh tap water, and put it on the porch on a table or something. supprisingly this actually worked, no idea why, but who cares :)
Az 88.105.32.1 16:47, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Rumors of it's existance unnecessary?

the section Rumors of It's Existence seems redundant, as it's covered in trivia, and the section itself is practically incomprehensible. I'm not sure if it should be completely deleted, but it really shouldn't stand the way it is. 24.250.221.24 03:18, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

Agreed. I removed the section as redundant and nonsensical. - Brian Kendig 11:48, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] A public nuisance section

I added a photo of how many love bugs can be seen in one spot to show how big of a nuisance they are. In the photo you can see a ton of black dots, those are all living love bugs covering a bus stop at Disney World this past september. I dont know if some people who have never seen them know how many there can be in one area. --Napnet 17:57, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Impossible citations

Scrubbing deceased love bugs off the front of one's car immediately after the evening rush hour is a twice-yearly ritual for commuters in the Gulf South[citation needed].
This is an ordinary, very obvious observation for anyone who lives on the Gulf Coast. It's ridiculous to expect a citation.

The use of drier sheets makes cleaning Love Bugs off your car much easier[citation needed].
This, on the other hand, is impossible to document because it's one of those things some anonymous Gulf Coaster discovered about two hours after dryer sheets were invented. Everybody I know uses them for this purpose. --Michael K. Smith 00:50, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Comment moved from article

I have been in Florida since 1959 and have seen the growth of the love bug population all these years. The lore that I have heard was that the University Of Florida researchers put the Love Bug larve in a petri dish with mosquito larve and that the Love Bugs hatched first and ate the mosqluito larve. The researchers were so ecstatic that they imported thousands of Love Bug larve to release into the wild to control the mosquito population. However they failed to realize that the Love bugs lay their eggs in the sand and the Mosquitos lay theirs in the water so the "twain shall never meet" and the Love Bug population never helped the Mosquito problem, and the Love Bugs with no natural enemy except the automobile have mushroomed into the mess you clean off your vehicle. JG.

[edit] What's in the name?

Anyone know why they are called love bugs? I was wondering about it..

Svetlana Miljkovic 03:40, 5 January 2007 (UTC)


It's because of the couplation. 71.0.242.38 04:45, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Spreading to other areas?

I first saw these things while helping with Hurricane Katrina cleanup in coastal Mississippi. I had never seen them in my lifetime in Oklahoma. Now I have seen several in Tulsa, and a friend has a full-blown infestation at her house here. Seems really strange to me that these bugs just appeared here in the past year or so. I wonder how many other geographic areas they've spread to since Katrina.

Don't call them an infestation. I think anyone who can experience a swarm of lovebugs is lucky. Its quite an experience.--Mark 2000 05:25, 1 March 2007 (UTC)
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