30 Days. 30 Bugs. Teaching kids all the YIKES about the Love Bug…

During June, I will be offering some pretty interesting bugs to you and your kids… bugs that will excite and entertain kids while teaching them.  Each and every little word or fun piece of information is a building block to love of learning and literacy.

Come along for the YIKES!  It’s gonna be a buggah!

The Love Bug lives up to its name in the black fly world, but not necessarily in the human world.

Let’s begin in the black fly world.

The Love Bug, Plecia nearctica, is a small black fly with a red thorax (the area behind the head).  The male Love Bug (1/4 inch) is smaller than the female (1/3 inch).  Both the male and female Love Bug live only a few days in its adult stage.

But what the Love Bug does do in those few days is what gives it its reputation as a Love Bug, as well as its nicknames Honeymoon Fly, Kissingbug and Double-headed Bug.

The Love Bug is especially active during the day… and this activity is mating.  The moment the female Love Bug emerges from her larval stage, she flies into a swarm of male Love Bugs.  She is then grasped by one male Love Bug, and the attached couple fly off together (in-flight mating… YIKES!).  During and after mating, the Love Bug couple stays coupled/attached.

This is when the Love Bug does not live up to its cute little name in the human world.

The coupled Love Bugs are attracted to exhaust fumes, hot automobile engines, lights and automobile vibrations.  YIKES! It is a serious nuisance and danger to drivers as swarms of mating Love Bugs pelt automobiles.  This Love Bug hazard is familiar to Central America, Mexico and the Gulf States of the United States.  The Love Bugs leave unsightly and difficult-to-remove carcasses on automobiles, creating removal costs to motorists and highway departments.

The good news is, the Love Bug is not bothersome in the biting department and is not known to transmit disease.

Introduce your kids to the Love Bug, if you dare! Decide for yourselves if the Love Bug lives up to its name!

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Join me here each day in June for 30 days. 30 Bugs. – a little fun, a little learning and a lotta YIKES!