Insect Love Languages

Author: Emma Grace Crumbley, Entomologist 

Insect Love Languages

There is no right way or one way to show your love for someone. Whether you perform big gestures in front of a crowd or keep your romance between you and your partner, love is a universal language that can be expressed in many ways. Recently, the “5 Love Languages” have become a popular model to communicate with your partner how you best show affection and how you prefer to receive it. With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, I wanted to explore what the love languages might look like with real-life love bugs!

1. Physical Touch

Physical touch can come in many forms, and roaches like them all! Cockroaches are positively thigmotactic, a behavior in which they enjoy being touched on all sides of their body. This behavior explains why roaches prefer tight, hard-to-reach spaces to hide in. Roaches are also reliably handleable insects – they don’t bite, sting, or scratch, and they enjoy the warmth of your hands. To woo this creepy crawly, give them some physical attention!

2. Words of Affirmation

It’s not easy courting a mate with words alone… unless of course, you sing them instead! To find their mates, both male and female katydids rub their wings together to produce a loud, high pitched chirping song. Though it may be anything but music to our ears, these mating calls communicate to other potential mates a love song like no other. The way to these creepy crawlies’ hearts is through their ears! (Or rather, the ear-like sensory organs on their legs). 

3. Quality Time

Mayflies makes the most of the time with their mates… and considering that time in brief, you better belief it’s highly valued! Mayflies spend 1-3 year underwater as aquatic immatures, only to emerge in a swarm one day to mate, lay eggs, and die. Though they may only know their mates for mere days before death, the time they spend together is unforgettable. Don’t rush things to romance a mayfly!

4. Gift Giving

Many insects give nuptial gifts as part of their courtship, but none are quiet as romantic as the dung beetle. Carefully curated and tarsal-made (hand-made for beetles), dung beetles give their partners a surprisingly thoughtful gift: rolled balls of dung! Before you judge, keep in mind that female dung beetles use these balls of dung to get essential nutrients needed in egg production. If dung beetles teach us anything, maybe it’s that there’s no such things as a crappy gift!

5. Acts of Service

Acts of service are a sought-after love language as they communicate dedication and loyalty to your partner. Ants, in addition to other social insects, would do anything to show their love to their queen. Worker ants dedicate their lives to gather food for the queen, soldier ants make sure the nest and queen are protected, and drones assure the queen’s reproductive needs are tended to. In all, ants are the hardest insects to romance – if you’re not their queen, they’re not interested!

Love your lawn, not the bugs.

Love is in the air… and so are bugs! Call the Pros at Mosquito Squad today at (512) 488-5331 to learn more about our pest management programs or click here for a free quote.