Claim: Love bugs" are the result of a genetic experiment gone wrong at the University of Florida.
Verdict: REFUTES

Retrieved passages:
title: Lovebug
text: this species, biological control of these non-pest flies is not a priority for funding. Research by L.L. Buschman showed that migration explained the introduction of the lovebug into Florida and other southeastern states, contrary to the urban myth that the University of Florida created them by manipulating DNA to control mosquito populations. Lovebugs are subject to some significant natural controls, such as various parasitic fungi, and dry weather, which dries out the thatch, resulting in a higher mortality rate for the immatures. As the lovebug migrated around the Gulf Coast, first to Texas, then Louisiana, then further eastward, the initial

title: The Love Bug
text: The Love Bug The Love Bug (sometimes referred to as Herbie the Love Bug) is a 1968 American comedy film and the first in a series of films made by Walt Disney Productions that starred an anthropomorphic pearl-white, fabric-sunroofed 1963 Volkswagen racing Beetle named Herbie. It was based on the 1961 book "Car, Boy, Girl" by Gordon Buford. The movie follows the adventures of Herbie, Herbie's driver, Jim Douglas (Dean Jones), and Jim's love interest, Carole Bennett (Michele Lee). It also features Buddy Hackett as Jim's enlightened, kind-hearted friend, Tennessee Steinmetz, a character who creates "art" from used car parts.

title: Lovebug
text: are attracted to light-colored surfaces, especially if they are freshly painted, but adults congregate almost anywhere, apparently reacting to the effects of sunlight on automobile fumes, asphalt, and other products affected by environmental factors still not completely understood. Urban legend holds that lovebugs are synthetic—the result of a University of Florida genetics experiment gone wrong. Much speculation about the lovebug still thrives. This is partly because the larval form of this insect is seldom seen, as it lives and feeds in the thatch of grasses for most of the year. While various fungi are suspected of being natural controls for

title: The Love Bug (1997 film)
text: The Love Bug (1997 film) The Love Bug is a 1997 American made-for-television comedy adventure film and a remake of the 1968 film of the same name produced by Walt Disney Television which premiered on ABC as part of "The Wonderful World of Disney" on November 30, 1997. The remake starred Bruce Campbell and included a special appearance by Dean Jones, star of the original "Love Bug", tying it to the previous films and introduced an evil black Volkswagen named Horace, "The Hate Bug", giving the film a much darker tone than the other "Herbie" films. It is the fifth

title: Bugs in Love
text: Bugs in Love Bugs in Love is a "Silly Symphonies" animated Disney short film. It was released in 1932, and was the final Symphony to be shot with black-and-white film. A carnival is made by insects out of garbage. The carnival includes a Ferris wheel made out of a bike tire and pedals, a "slide" made out of a pipe, and a record player "merry-go-round". Two love bugs are skating on a broken mirror when the female bug leaves to her house to freshen up. The male bug follows her. While the two are courting, a crow flies by and

title: Bugs in Love
text: the crow. The bugs stop what they are doing and together defeat the crow and save the couple. Bugs in Love Bugs in Love is a "Silly Symphonies" animated Disney short film. It was released in 1932, and was the final Symphony to be shot with black-and-white film. A carnival is made by insects out of garbage. The carnival includes a Ferris wheel made out of a bike tire and pedals, a "slide" made out of a pipe, and a record player "merry-go-round". Two love bugs are skating on a broken mirror when the female bug leaves to her house

title: Lovebug
text: of the 20th century the species had spread heavily to all areas bordering the Gulf of Mexico, as well as Georgia and South Carolina. L. A. Hetrick, writing in 1970, found the bug was also widespread in central and northern Florida and described its flights as reaching altitudes of and extending several kilometers over the Gulf. Lovebugs' larvae feed on partially decayed vegetation in the landscape and, in this respect, are beneficial to humans. Adults primarily feed on nectar from various plants, particularly sweet clover, goldenrod, and Brazilian pepper. Localized lovebug flights can number in the hundreds of thousands. The

title: The Valentine's Day that Almost Wasn't
text: of love. The next morning, the cupids go out and shoot their love arrows, little do they know that the arrows were contaminated with HATE. Rubella, Bugsy and Weasel watch from the window as everyone on the street start acting hostile, arrogant and terribly evil. Cosmo notices this and decides to go to a nearby telephone booth and call Sam to report the problem. Sam decides to look in his "Soldier of Affection" magazine and finds an ad for something that might resolve the evil problem. Next thing, Bugsy notices a heart-shaped hot air balloon in the sky, which turns

title: Bed bug control techniques
text: in two major US cities now includes neonicotinoids. A population genetics study of bed bugs in the United States, Canada, and Australia using a mitochondrial DNA marker found high levels of genetic variation. This suggests the studied bed bug populations did not undergo a genetic bottleneck as one would expect from insecticide control during the 1940s and 1950s, but instead, that populations may have been maintained on other hosts such as birds and bats. In contrast to the high amount of genetic variation observed with the mitochondrial DNA marker, no genetic variation in a nuclear RNA marker was observed. This

title: Science communication
text: to the Entomological society of Canada posting a tweet defending her love for bugs called #BugsR4Girls. The ESC’s use of twitter was able to make a statement saying, "A young girl who loves insects is being bullied & needs our support. DM your email & we'll connect you! #BugsR4Girls". In 2017, a study done by the Pew Research Center of Journalism and Media found that "About a quarter of social media users follow science related pages and accounts. This group places both more importance and comparatively more trust on science news that comes to them through social media". Karen Peterson,

title: Lovebug
text: Lovebug The lovebug ("Plecia nearctica") is a species of march fly found in parts of Central America and the southeastern United States, especially along the Gulf Coast. It is also known as the honeymoon fly or double-headed bug. During and after mating, adult pairs remain coupled, even in flight, for up to several days. The species was first described in 1940 by D. E. Hardy, but was seen in Louisiana as early as 1911. At that time, he reported the incidence of lovebugs to be widespread, but most common in Texas, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. However, by the end

title: Love Bug (Philippine TV series)
text: production focuses on finalists in the next story about the tests and complicated world of love between young adults. It starred Diva Montelaba, Sarah Lahbati, Steven Silva, and Enzo Pineda. The third episode starred Rich Asuncion, Chariz Solomon, Daniel Matsunaga and Kris Bernal. Alvin (Mark Anthony Fernandez) is madly in love with Faye (Lovi Poe). Feeling they are meant to be together, they decide to get married. Alvin wants his divorced parents to come together at the wedding. Chona (Carmi Martin) makes a scene and Ulyeses (Joey Marquez) decides to apologize for the dismay and commotion at the important event.

title: Santo Bugito
text: and Burt (Michael Stanton), a hyperactive flea named Lencho (Cheech Marin), a cynical artist termite named Eaton Woode (Charles Adler), a butterfly named Rosa (Candi Milo) and her boyfriend Miguel who is still in his cocoon, Amelia (Joan Van Ark), an enthusiastic damselfly, Ralph, a large friendly lady bug with a rather deep voice (George Kennedy) and a praying mantis professor who occasionally interrupts the show to give dull educational lectures, but is usually pushed off-screen by another character. The show primarily deals with slice of life stories, but often with a strange insect twist. Some episodes include the town

title: The Love Bug
text: a rare sports car built in the United States by International Motorcars in Oakland, California. It used an Italian-designed body along with a small-block Buick V8 engine. This car exists today, is in the hands of a private collector, and has been restored as it was seen in the film with its yellow paint and number 14 logo. Before film began production, the titular car was not specified as a Volkswagen Beetle, and Disney set up a casting call for a dozen cars to audition. In the lineup, there were a few Toyotas, a TVR, a handful of Volvos, an

title: The Love Bug (1997 film)
text: built by Dr. Gustav Stumpfel (Harold Gould) shortly after World War II. He asked Dr. Gustav to create another car, but he wants the car to be pure evil and black. He ends up naming the second car, Horace the Hate Bug, using the "magical ingredients" of a picture of Simon, along with Herbie's key. Simon orders Horace to find Herbie and destroy him, which Horace does, leaving Herbie a heap of crushed metal. Hank catches up with Herbie, but finds it's too late to save him, and Hank, Roddy, and Alex give Herbie a funeral. At the funeral, Herbie's

title: Love Bug (Philippine TV series)
text: Love Bug (Philippine TV series) Love Bug is a 2010 Philippine television drama romance anthology broadcast by GMA Network. It premiered on May 23, 2010 replacing "Dear Friend". The show concluded on September 19, 2010 with a total of 16 episodes. It was replaced by "Reel Love Presents Tween Hearts" in its timeslot. With the success of weekly drama anthologies, television series, and drama series, and reality sitcoms GMA Network provides a Sunday afternoon anthology tackling love stories. It was shortly-lived, airing from May 23, 2010 to September 19, 2010. It is now renamed "Reel-Love Presents". The show's name was

title: Stuart Fullerton
text: the Department of Biology. Fullerton taught UCF mology lab courses as a volunteer without receiving a salary. He established the Bug Closet, which houses more than a half million insects, many of which are indigenous to Central Florida. Fullerton sought to make the collection the definitive resource for information on insects in Florida. The Bug Closet also contains examples of insects from around the world, including Brazil and Mexico, but it remains dedicated to Central Floridian insects. Fullerton collected insects found on the UCF campus and recruited undergraduate students to expand the collection. Two species housed in the collection were

title: Johanna Mappes
text: University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Her doctoral thesis focused on reproductive tactics and maternal care in shield bugs, particularly the parent bug ("Elasmucha grisea"). Her other study species include the wood tiger moth ("Parasemia plantaginis"), vipers (Viperidae), the Colorado potato beetle ("Leptinotarsa decemlineata") and the drumming wolf-spider ("Hygrolycosa rubrofasciata"). Since 2008 Mappes has worked as a professor of evolutionary ecology at the University of Jyväskylä, and she is the head of the Centre of Excellence in Biological Interactions Research appointed by the Academy of Finland for the years 2012-2017. Johanna Mappes Riitta Johanna Mappes (born 13 October 1965 in Valkeakoski, Finland)

title: Gene drive
text: larvae collected in the targeted zone, demonstrating they had out-competed males in the wild for mates. Egg counts had been reduced by 88 percent. The result was a 62 percent suppression rate of the virus-carrying mosquitoes, according to data provided by officials there. About 400,000 insects are released there weekly. In August 2016 the U.S. Food And Drug Administration (FDA) issued a “Finding of No Significant Impact" (FONSI) to biotech company Oxitec's plan to release genetically modified male "Aedes aegypti" (mosquitoes) into the Florida Keys. The intent was to stop the spread of mosquito-borne diseases, including Zika. The modification adds

title: Love Bug (Philippine TV series)
text: derived from Jonas Brothers song Lovebug A young athlete, Rackie Carla Abellana, meets Hero Dennis Trillo, a handsome young man. They fall in love aboard a cruise going to Hong Kong. Rackie has a terminal illness; Hero is a soon-to-be-wed groom and event organizer working his way to give his soon-to-be wife Iwa Moto the perfect life. Rackie and Hero's encounter makes them realize that love only comes once in a lifetime in all unexpected places. "The Last Romance" aired for four episodes. This is the first time for the new "StarStruck V" competitors to enter a TV series. The