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These pesky lovebugs can actually be good for the environment

These pesky lovebugs can actually be good for the environment

Love is in the air! Lovebugs are indeed in the air. This is the time of year Floridians begin to notice these insects crawling on cars and everywhere else. Lovebugs can be annoying at times but they are actually beneficial to the environment.

According toResearch from the University of FloridaWhen they are still in their immature stages, lovebugs can help the environment. Thatch is a covering that grows from grass when it is cut. It covers the ground where immature lovebugs can live and eat. This allows them to redistribute beneficial nutrients back into their environment and plants.

RELATED: How lovebugs arrived in Florida. No, they weren’t made to eat mosquitoes.

“It’s only during those two months that people are asking where these insects came form,” Thomas Fasulo (an extension entomologist at UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences) said. “The rest they’re actually beneficial to the environment.”

Massey Services, a pest prevention and landscaping company, says that lovebug larvae are beneficial because they help to decompose old plant material. The larvae are found in soil and under decaying plants.

Remember that these little bugs can actually be helpful, next time you see them crawling around your picnic basket or parade on your front grill.

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