A summer of lovebugs: Experts predict pest's peak activity to be late June

Korea's lovebugs are expected to peak in late June amid rising spring temperatures, the National Institute of Forest Science said Monday.

Lovebugs, or  Plecia longiforcep, are predicted to be most active from June 15 to 29, with numbers peaking on June 24, the institute said. That is roughly two days ahead of last year's main activity window, which ran from June 17 to July 4.

The institute drew on observation records from 2023 to 2025 logged on the nature-tracking platform Naturing, as well as recent weather data, to build its forecast model. Officials attributed the earlier timeline to a trend of warmer spring temperatures in recent years.

Lovebugs are commonly found across East Asia, including Japan and China, and do not directly harm humans or crops. But their habit of swarming around light sources in large numbers has generated a steady flow of public complaints.

"When cross-checked against complaint data from Seoul's Eunpyeong and Seodaemun districts, the prediction error came to about one to two days," Kim Min-jung, a researcher at the institute's Forest Pest Research Division, said. 

"It was confirmed that there was no significant difference from the actual occurrence period."

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.

BY PARK JONG-SUH [[email protected]]