lovebugs

Noun

lovebug (plural lovebugs)

1. An insect, the honeymoon fly (Plecia nearctica, family Biblionidae), native to Central America and the southeastern United States.

   Synonyms:

   double-headed bug, kissybug

2. An insect native to subtropical regions of south-eastern China, Taiwan, and Japan (Plecia longiforceps).
   • The bugs, officially called Plecia longiforceps, earned their nickname from their distinctive mating behaviour, flying attached as couples during copulation. […] Originally from subtropical regions of south-eastern China, Taiwan and Japan’s Ryukyu islands, the lovebugs were first scientifically...2025 June 30, Raphael Rashid, “Seoul wrestles with how to handle invasion of ‘lovebugs’”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
3. (informal) A person who is in love; a sweetheart.
   • His parents flipped their lids when the two lovebugs got hitched. Jonnie couldn't stand the fact that her beautiful young son, gone so long over seas, had now tangled up with an older woman, and even worse, an older divorced woman […]2009, Dee Kassabian, My Four Fathers and Other Short Stories, page 45