Ever experienced a swarm of "love bugs?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I saw this news item today

There is also something in the US called “love bugs”, and googling shiws that they are the same genus as the Asian ones. We don’t get them in deep inland South Carolina, but they are on the coast. I remember a time driving through Hollywood, SC when we ran into a massive swarm of them. I remember passing through the town center and seeing people on the sidewalks trying to bat away clouds of them like the people in Korea. We had to stop at a car wash and wash the windshield because it was so covered in splattered bug goo.

2

I lived in Jax, FL for 18 years, so, yeah.

3

About 15 years ago, my wife and I were traveling with her father across central Florida, and the love bugs were swarming. My FIL was concerned about the effect of love bug guts on his car’s finish, so there was an extensive trip to the self-serve car wash late that evening.

4

I was going to say, “Yes, but only while visiting Florida”.

It was tough on my windshield. I stopped to gas up after a thick cloud of them to also scrub my windows clean.

5

I see them more often in “deep inland” Texas - Dallas and San Antonio from experience, than I do here on the Gulf coast, but the swarms do occur.

6

We live on the Florida coast between St. Augustine and Daytona and Whoa! Here’s a cloud of the little bastards in my kitchen! I can hardly see through them! How’d they get in here? ‘Scuse me.

7

I first ran into them in central Florida and was mildly irritated. The worst time though was in Texas driving between Big Thicket and Waco. I had to stop at two car washes that day.

The other memorable mega-swarm (some kind of gnat) I encountered was at the Great Salt Lake on the causeway out to Antelope Island.

8

First encountered them when I moved to Galveston County, Texas, in 1997. Haven’t seen them since I left there in 2005. I do not miss them and neither does my car’s paint job. I swear their insides are made of super glue.

9

I’ve not, but I recall a talk at a natural gas vehicles conference back when the US was awash in cheap natural gas. The speaker was designing more streamlined fuel storage for large trucks, and spoke of using a “redneck wind tunnel” to test aerodynamics. This involves driving on the highway, then stopping to count lovebug splatter on the fuel enclosure.

10

When I was 7, in Houston, I was at some sort of outdoors event and lots of lovebugs clustered on my white shirt while the other kids had no bugs. We speculated they were drawn to the white color.