Our back porch is home to more love bugs than a dairy barn is to flies.
Early this morning I swept it in disgust knowing I’d have the grand opportunity to sweep it again before dusk.
My mind wandered as I pushed little piles of them into a dustpan, and I decided to conduct my own back yard scientific study. I counted them. Well, not really all of them. Just a few. Then I resorted to multiplication.
My first counting netted 68. I counted a second pile and got 90. From those two figures I got an arithmetic mean of 79. Then I counted each stroke that pushed a pile off the porch. Fourteen. Finally, I multiplied 79 and 14 and discovered that I had swept 1,106 love bugs – give or take a few.
I know that sounds like an outrageous number of bugs, but it’s the truth. For some reason we have more than anyone we know. And our porch is where they choose to live and die.
Perhaps it’s because they are attracted to the cypress on our house. Sometimes, though, I think they are simply attracted to us. They latch onto legs and clothes and hair when we go outside and then follow us inside. They really love us.
One positive note is that when I get rid of one, I usually get rid of two. They hang in pairs and “not until death do they part.” Thus, the name love bugs.
In addition to my backyard study, I did a little textbook research. It seems that love bugs have had high populations since 1965 over the northern half of Florida and can be found in all states bordering the Gulf of Mexico as well as in Mexico and Central America. Because of such wide infestation, chemical control is impractical.
Love bugs are scientifically labeled “plecia nearctica hardy,” and they bless our coastal area with their presence each May and September. The reason they are so plentiful is because each adult female lays 300 eggs. Adults develop after a one-week pupation period.
The adults mate during flight and remain attached until one dies. Males live only two or three days, but females can live a week or more and may mate with more than one male. Apparently, there is no love loss among love bugs.
Our back porch is not the only haven for love bugs. They swarm the highways and their remains pepper the windshield and grid of my car. At least those are dead. Still, I have the realization of knowing there are more females out there mating with males, laying their eggs and finding new mates when the first fellows pass on.
Arriving home this evening I looked across the carport to the back porch. I did a little quick math. If my calculations are anywhere close to correct, I’ve got at least 2,370 more love bugs to sweep.
Lucky me.
