Cajun Crawlers
What is the scientific name for a short- horned grasshopper, a leaf-legged bug, and a stinkbug? Have you ever heard of a lovebug? In Louisiana they are here all summer but when I try to find them in an encyclopedia they are not there. If you can, give me the insect order and scientific name of a lovebug?
———- from Amber Craig of Lafayette, La.
The scientific name for all insects from Louisiana is “Funky Creepus Crawlus Ya Ya Aiko Aiko.” First categorized by Professor Longhair and later codified by Doctors John and Neville, these swamp insects are unlike those found in any of the other fifty states. For one thing, they can keep time with any of their six legs, and the odd patterns of syncopation produce a characteristic rhythmic pattern, or “groove” that is not heard in the monotonous sawing of northern insects. As a rule, the farther you go up the Mississippi, the less colorful the rhythms, until you arrive at Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota, where all rhythmic sense is dormant.
The scientific name for all insects from Louisiana is “Funky Creepus Crawlus Ya Ya Aiko Aiko.” First categorized by Professor Longhair and later codified by Doctors John and Neville, these swamp insects are unlike those found in any of the other fifty states. For one thing, they can keep time with any of their six legs, and the odd patterns of syncopation produce a characteristic rhythmic pattern, or “groove” that is not heard in the monotonous sawing of northern insects. As a rule, the farther you go up the Mississippi, the less colorful the rhythms, until you arrive at Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota, where all rhythmic sense is dormant. 