April 8, 2004
By Robert Eckhart

SOUTH VENICE -- A beat-up yellow broom in his hand, Gene Liogghio patrols outside his house on Kinesco Road, fending off the hairy brown invaders that have arrived by the thousands in the last few weeks:

Caterpillars.

And more caterpillars.

And still more caterpillars.

"The west side of my house was just black," said Patty Pascale, a neighbor on Kinesco Road. "It was horrible."

Known scientifically as Seirarctia echo, the creatures are about 2 inches long and common in Florida, but not in the sort of numbers that South Venice has been seeing lately.

Sarasota County entomologist Dr. Fred Santana said similar outbreaks were reported last year in Englewood and Nokomis.

"Usually, Mother Nature has some kind of a balancing mechanism," said Santana, who was so surprised by the invasions that he produced a slide show for entomologists from the University of Florida.

They couldn't believe it either.

"Apparently, the parasites that usually keep them under control are not here this year," Santana said.
Hence Gene Liogghio, 67, and his yellow broom.

"This is my weapon," he said. "I may go through two or three more."

Liogghio suspects that the county stirred up the caterpillars when workers bulldozed a few acres on a preserve behind his house.

Poison didn't slow the insects down at all. They kept coming, slinking across patios and leaving red stains on walls.

Shop vacs and water hoses are known to be effective weapons.

Real estate agent Charlie Bonamer, 30, another Kinesco Road resident, recommends wetting down a wall or driveway, smashing the caterpillars on it, then rinsing the mess away.

Santana is advising patience. The critters will go into their cocoons sometime soon and emerge as cream-colored Echo moths.

In the meantime, Kinesco Road resident Maria Ludlam hesitates to squash them.

"I'm sure they serve some great purpose that God intended," said Ludlam, 51, who lost a poinsettia to the caterpillars. "But in the meantime, I'm going to hose them away every chance I get."

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