Re: Why are bugs attracted to light?

Dear "Bugged Out",

There is no one reason why bugs are attracted to light. All of the following are possible in my opinion:

1) Bugs use light to navigate. The moon is a very long way from us by normal standards and the light rays which reach the earth are virtually parallel. By flying at a constant angle to these rays it is possible over a short period of time to fly in a straight line. When an insect is close to a lamp the rays are not parallel, but divergent. The effect of keeping the rays at a constant angle will be to fly round the light source.

2) Many bugs see ultraviolet light and may be attracted to flowers at night which reflect ultraviolet patterns using moonlight. Lights which emit UV rays may therefore attract such insects.

3) Both or one of the above reasons are often given by entomologists to explain the attraction to light. It is also possible, although I have never seen research on this, that bugs are attracted to the heat of the light source.

Hope this helps.

Richard Kingsley