2. The Walt Disney World Biannual Lovebug Parade

Image: Sandy Poore, Flickr (license)

With its wide variety of bizarre bugs, Florida is an entomologist’s dream. Particularly in the summer, there’s no avoiding encounters with the state’s insect population. If you’re planning on visiting Disney World in May, August, or September, that encounter might prove a bit more dramatic than you expected.

This is because late spring and early fall are lovebug season. If you have ever visited the parks during these times, you no doubt spotted these bizarre seemingly two-headed flies. I recall seeing them as a kid at the Old Key West resort, asking my parents just why the little buzzing weirdos appeared to be attached by the butt wherever they went.

The life of a lovebug is a short, passionate affair. After hatching, these mostly-harmless flies spend about twenty days chowing down on everything they can sink their mouths into, filling their larval bodies with nutrients and organic materials. Once fully grown, they take to the air in spectacular, car-encrusting swarms. Males seek out available females and waste no time getting busy. After all, they only live 2-3 days.

Once mating has commenced, the lovebugs stay attached, even when in flight. While this courtship looks like a placid (if bizarre) affair to our eyes, for the lovebugs, it is such an energetic exchange that the males die shortly after mating.

Tough break…
Image: Florida Fish and Wildlife, Flickr (license)

The females drag their lover’s still-attached body around for a time, lay their eggs, then die themselves about a day later. This flurry of activity can result in veritable plagues of lovebugs that usually last for a few days to a few weeks. They do not bite or sting, but they can be annoying to walk through, buzz into guest rooms, and can be particularly difficult to remove from vehicles. Disney does a respectable job controlling them, but unlike Pokémon, they can’t catch ‘em all.

There’s not much guests can do to avoid lovebugs during their mating swarms besides waving them away… though, perhaps if you see a pair, a recitation of Romeo and Juliet might be appropriate: “Thus, with a kiss, I die.”