Ugh! First searing heat, now this! I looked outside my truck window and saw the first pair of lovebugs of the season. Then I saw the first two pair of lovebugs of the season. It’s only a matter of time that my pile of quarters for laundry will be depleted for the car wash.
What are lovebugs you say? They are a.k.a. Plecia nearctica Hardy. Hardy discovered them in Galveston in 1940. Here is what Texas A & M University says about them:
“Large numbers of adults emerge primarily in the spring (May) and fall (September). Males and females fly and couple in open areas along roadways, appearing to swarm in weak flight. Although females live for only a week or so, adult flight activity lasts for a period of about 4 weeks. Eggs are deposited in swampy areas and ditches. Larvae develop through several stages (instars), becoming about 3/8 inch long and slate-gray with dark heads. Thereafter, they pupate in the soil and emerge as adults in about 8 days.”
Be that as it may, these pests swarm ferociously in these parts (Southeast Texas). They are found in all the Gulf Coast states and even a little way up the Atlantic seaboard, last I heard. The only method of successfully killing them is with automobiles. They stick to car hoods and grills and headlights and windshields like flypaper. Old joke: What’s the last thing going through a lovebug’s mind? Its ass.
Of course, as high as gasoline has become (up 33 cents overnight at some area stations to $2.99), I doubt I’ll be doing a whole lot of driving.