| Radio programs for the week of 8 May 2000 (fe00508 - fe00512) | For more
information: University of Florida, Lovebug - Plecia nearctica Hardy University of Florida, Entomology, McCann Book Chapter 5 Section 2 |
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Little to love about Love Bugs I'm Kevin Pierce with the Florida Environment. You won't have to look too hard to see that Love Bug season is upon us again. The pairs of tiny flies are showing up on windshields and grills of cars and trucks around Florida. But why here? And why now? Phil Koehler is an urban entomologist at the University of Florida (Phil Koehler, Ph.D., Staff Endowed Professor, Urban Entomology, Department of Entomology, University of Florida)... "Love Bugs are small flies that are in the process of mating when they swarm over the roads. So usually there are two individuals: the large one is the female and the small one is the male. The female usually gets her way and she drags the male around with her." Entomologist John Jackman is at Texas A & M University -- where they have equal experience with Love Bugs (John Jackman, Professor and Extension Entomologist, Texas A & M University)... "They're quite seasonal. They do occur early in the spring here for a few weeks while the adults are out in a mating flight. And we may see another mating flight later in the fall of the year." And while the seasonality of the nuisance flies might be good news, the bad news might be in what's to come (Koehler) ... "Usually the one in May is not as big an emergence. We don't have as many Love Bugs coming out in May as we do in September." For more information, visit floridaenvironment.com. With help from its Environmental Studies Program, we're produced at the Whitaker Center at Florida Gulf Coast University and funded by the Southwest Florida Council for Environment Education. |
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 fe00509Love Bugs are moving in I'm Kevin Pierce with the Florida Environment. Another Love Bug is seasons underway, with pairs of the tiny flies ending up splattered on Florida's cars and trucks. And like many of us, Florida is not the Love Bug's original home. Phil Koehler is an Urban Entomologist (Phil Koehler, Ph.D., Staff Endowed Professor, Urban Entomology, Department of Entomology, University of Florida)... "Love Bugs were introduced from South America. And actually what happened was that they spread around the Gulf of Mexico through Texas and Louisiana to invade Florida through the Panhandle and then down through the state." These Love Bugs that traveled to Florida (without being flattened against a moving car) made their appearance within the past fifty or sixty years (Koehler)... "In the 1940s they were first found in Texas and then they spread through the 1940s and 1950s in through Florida." And with a May and September hatch of the flies expected, there's activity even when the bugs aren't flying (Koehler)... "When you don't see Love Bugs out, usually what's happened is the adult female has laid eggs in the grass clippings and died. And then the larvae are feeding. It takes them several months to mature. So between May and September they're in the larval stage and they aren't swarming over the roads." For more information, visit floridaenvironment.com. With help from its Environmental Studies Program, we're produced at the Whitaker Center at Florida Gulf Coast University and funded by the Southwest Florida Council for Environment Education. |
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| fe00510 Why Love Bugs love Florida I'm Kevin Pierce with the Florida Environment. Love Bugs are the tiny flies that hatch twice a year in Florida, are usually seen while mating and often end up becoming highway casualties on car grills and windshields. But why Florida and the Gulf Coast states? John Jackman is an entomologist at Texas A & M University (John Jackman, Professor and Extension Entomologist, Texas A & M University)... "The immature form is a maggot that feeds down in moist areas that have a lot of organic matter. So they're found along roadsides and swampy areas, ditches and even in some cases lawns that have a lot of thatch buildup. Places like that that have a lot of organic buildup and moisture." And with that attraction to moisture and decay, Love Bug larvae serve at important function (Jackman)... "They're a beneficial insect because the immatures help break down organic matter. So they're part of our recycling community out there. So in general, if you can ignore them you're better off." University of Florida Entomologist Phil Koehler says the tiny flies are also attracted to the very highways that might bring their downfall (Phil Koehler, Ph.D., Staff Endowed Professor, Urban Entomology, Department of Entomology, University of Florida)... "Usually you see them very dense on the roads between ten a.m. and four p.m. and those hot engines and the exhaust fumes are what attract them there." For more information, visit floridaenvironment.com. With help from its Environmental Studies Program, we're produced at the Whitaker Center at Florida Gulf Coast University and funded by the Southwest Florida Council for Environment Education. |
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| fe00511 What's to do about Love Bugs? I'm Kevin Pierce with the Florida Environment. As the tiny files we know as love bugs begin their seasonal mating flights, they also create a nuisance as they fly on Florida roadways and splatter on the fronts of vehicles. But, says entomologist John Jackman, it's important to keep the pests in perspective (John Jackman, Professor and Extension Entomologist, Texas A & M University)... "It's purely a nuisance of the adults smashing into your vehicles and flying into your homes occasionally and just being kind of a nuisance there in the environment." And that status as a mere nuisance has helped hold down any real efforts at controlling Love Bugs says urban entomologist Phil Koehler (Phil Koehler, Ph.D., Staff Endowed Professor, Urban Entomology, Department of Entomology, University of Florida)... "No real control methods... whatever you would do to control them would also kill beneficial insects like bees and butterflies. So we're much better off leaving them alone. They'll be out for a few weeks and then they disappear for most of the year." In fact, natural controls have helped keep the past couple Love Bug seasons quieter (Koehler)... "There are some birds that will feed on the larvae. Also the Love Bugs don't do well through droughts and floods so the past couple of years have been really hard on the Love Bug populations." For more information, visit floridaenvironment.com. With help from its Environmental Studies Program, we're produced at the Whitaker Center at Florida Gulf Coast University and funded by the Southwest Florida Council for Environment Education. |
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| fe00512 The brighter side of Love Bugs The tiny flies we call Love Bugs are making a nuisance of themselves again as their mating flight takes them into the paths of oncoming cars. And it brings the annual interview requests to entomologists like Phil Koehler at the University of Florida, who has obviously taken some time preparing his answers. Does the Love Bug have natural enemies? (Phil Koehler, Ph.D., Staff Endowed Professor, Urban Entomology, Department of Entomology, University of Florida)... "Yeah, as a matter of fact, one important natural enemy is a car. I always like to tell people the best way to kill Love Bugs is with a car." Does the Bug cause any economic harm? (Koehler) "Actually there's quite an industry of washing cars that would disappear if we didn't have Love Bugs. So its very important for a lot of people to earn their livings washing cars for the tourists as they go through the state." To a question about the density of Love Bug swarms (Koehler)... "How do you tell a happy motorcyclist? With the Love Bugs in his teeth." And of course, observations about their flight (Koehler)... "They'd be a very good advertisement for United Airlines: Fly United." For more information, visit floridaenvironment.com. With help from its Environmental Studies Program, we're produced at the Whitaker Center at Florida Gulf Coast University and funded by the Southwest Florida Council for Environment Education. |
