{"id":261760,"date":"2026-05-07T09:03:25","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T09:03:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/261760\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T09:03:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T09:03:25","slug":"are-lovebugs-coming-back-to-central-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/261760\/","title":{"rendered":"Are lovebugs coming back to Central Florida!?"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 Over the past couple of years, experts have noticed a heavy decrease in lovebugs across Central Florida.<\/p>\n

However, that trend may have just been reversed.<\/p>\n

Lovebugs are known for flying through the air while getting \u201cstuck\u201d together during their explosive breeding seasons, causing plenty of splatters on the front of people\u2019s cars.<\/p>\n

A Disney Cruise Line bus covered in lovebugs. (Image courtesy: Omar Izquierdo)<\/p>\n

But in recent years, Florida natives have noticed a stark drop in the number of these pests flitting about.<\/p>\n

During a 2024 conversation with Dr. Norman Leppla<\/a> \u2014 a professor at the University of Florida specializing in pest management \u2014 he explained that lovebugs\u2019 disappearance was part of a larger trend.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really don\u2019t know why, but we\u2019re having a crisis globally with the loss of insect species and all kinds of other organisms just plain disappearing. And we\u2019re quite worried about it,\u201d he said at the time.<\/p>\n

[RELATED: Where did all the lovebugs go?]<\/p>\n

But this week, News 6 reached out for a follow-up after several members in the newsroom noticed more lovebugs in the air this year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour newsroom members are correct in noticing more lovebugs than last year,\u201d Leppla wrote. \u201cI have seen some in North Central Florida during the past couple of weeks where there were none last year. They certainly aren\u2019t abundant, however.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Leppla, the number of lovebugs you see flying around depends on the survival of larvae, which in turn depend on continuous moisture to feed and develop.<\/p>\n

Female lovebugs can lay hundreds of eggs, but if the environment is too dry or submerged for too long, the larvae end up dying \u2014 resulting in fewer lovebugs.<\/p>\n

Swarm of lovebugs, Plecia nearctica Hardy, on flowers. (Photo: James Castner, University of Florida)<\/p>\n

Typically, lovebug season pops up twice per year in Florida: in April to May, and August to September.<\/p>\n

Per Leppla, lovebugs actually reached nuisance levels last month down south in places ranging from the Florida Keys up through Ft. Myers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey probably occurred in swarms along the lower east coast, as well,\u201d he continued. \u201cThey will continue to be relatively abundant in local habitats where larvae can develop. Lovebugs will exist as far north as the climate will enable the larvae to survive.<\/p>\n

Lovebugs<\/p>\n

However, lovebugs aren\u2019t originally from Florida.<\/p>\n

They actually hail from the Yucat\u00e1n in Mexico, having traveled into the Gulf Coast through Texas during the early-to-mid 1900s. In the Sunshine State, they weren\u2019t seen until around 1950.<\/p>\n

That means that even if lovebugs really did disappear from Florida, it doesn\u2019t necessarily mean they\u2019re gone for good.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey live in that tropical habitat, and they came here as our habitat became more conducive to lovebugs,\u201d Leppla previously explained. \u201cThat\u2019s usually what happens. And so they spread, and they can certainly just recede right back to the tropics.\u201d<\/p>\n

[RELATED: Don\u2019t touch these fuzzy Florida bugs!]<\/p>\n

But that begs the question: what are the impacts of lovebugs possibly disappearing from Florida?<\/p>\n

The short answer? Not much.<\/p>\n

In fact, lovebug guts reportedly contain an enzyme that can eat through the clearcoat of a vehicle, which can damage the vehicle\u2019s paint. As such, it could be good news for drivers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not going to cause a lot of issues for the folks here in Florida,\u201d Leppla stated. \u201cOnly the car wash people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leppla gave News 6 a few tips to keep the pesky insects away<\/a>. Here\u2019s what you should know:<\/p>\n

Lovebugs are attracted to light colors, so you can avoid wearing light-colored clothing and being near light-colored walls to not draw them in<\/p>\n

They are also bad flyers, so you can use a fan to blow them away<\/p>\n

Lastly, lovebugs don\u2019t fly at night and take a break around noon, so if you limit outdoor exposure during the morning and afternoon times you may be able to avoid them<\/p>\n

Breaking News Alerts<\/p>\n

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Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 Over the past couple of years, experts have noticed a heavy decrease in lovebugs across…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261761,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1684,1563,6919,28,30,29,2496,1335,139,2546,107,2512],"class_list":["post-261760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-animals","tag-environment","tag-features","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-gainesville","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-strange-florida","tag-travel","tag-university-of-florida"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}