In summer there is the nightmare of mosquitoes, even spring and autumn have their characteristic presences that fly around us and bite us every now and then, but what do insects do in winter ? We probably take it for granted that they die but this is not always the case. Now that we are heading towards the cold season let’s try to find out what happens to these living beings when we stop having them boringly around.
What Insects Do in Winter: Cicadas
A precise, scientific term to define a very particular state in which insects fall to resist the low temperatures of winter, waiting for the pleasant temperatures of spring and summer to return. Diapause can be compared to a period of hibernation but can also last several years. The cicada, for example, behaves like this but not all insects stop to rest, there are some that use renewable energy.
When an insect goes into diapause , it looks for a quiet place where no one disturbs it. It could be a cavity in the rock or an abandoned farmhouse full of small silent corners. These insects can also take refuge underground, the important thing is that they can enjoy peace and quiet to hibernate for a while. Usually it is a couple of months, just the ones in which our temperatures are unbearable for them. However, there are also insects that take it easy and stay in diapause much longer, just like it can happen to us to want to stay on the sofa instead of going out while a snowstorm rages outside or everything is frozen. Those most reluctant to face low temperatures even go on pauses of 7 years, among these are cicadas that therefore only every 7 years fill the forests of the northern states of the United States. In the South, diapause lasts even longer, 13 or 17 years depending on the genetic strain.
What Insects Do in Winter: Bees
A completely different strategy is the one used by bees that remain active during the winter by exploiting the energy contained in honey. Perhaps not seeing them around, we have always thought that they died, but when it is cold, bees spend the cold days inside their hive but certainly not taking a siesta like cicadas. They transform themselves into “radiators” so that their hive can have temperatures suitable for the queen.
The worker bees themselves form a mass of bodies, uniting around the queen, which is called the glomerulus. By contracting their strong chest muscles they warm her and protect her from the cold because their energy is not transformed into work but into heat. With this method they manage to ensure a temperature of about 23 degrees inside the hive.
Let’s take a closer look at how this temperature is reached, how bees become “natural warmers”. Their only natural fuel is flower nectar , which is dehydrated and then stored as honey.
What Insects Do in Winter: Butterflies
There are also cases in which unfortunately the insect says goodbye to us at the end of the season. It happens frequently with butterflies, which however have a very special task before dying, that of laying their eggs, so that the species does not become extinct. It is very important, as you can imagine, that they are placed in a place protected from other living beings and from the cold. Rocky crevices, holes and cracks in walls, bark, and dead trunks can be excellent hiding places. The eggs will hatch as soon as the season becomes milder. Each butterfly has its two preferences and its strategies, for example those of the Papilio machaon species (Swallowtail) lay their eggs on the wild fennel plant so that the larva can then feed on them comfortably.
There are butterflies that do not give up on winter and can resist low temperatures by seeking refuge in sheltered environments. This is exactly what the Vanessa atalanta does.
In the swallowtail (Iphiclides podalirius) for example, and in many other species, the larvae pupate during the winter season and as soon as spring arrives they can directly complete the metamorphosis and become adults.
Each insect has its own specific strategy, very often adapted to the climate of the area where it lives, it is curious to see how all these beings have found a way to not make their species extinct.
What Insects Do in Winter: Books
If you want to know more about the behavior of various insects, here are some books that can help you. They are all books for children, from 6 years old and up, full of information but also of figures that sometimes better than all are able to describe the nature that surrounds us.