11/17/2023 0 Comments Do house spiders hibernate![]() Of course, one very appealing place for insects to hide for the winter is in the warmth of your home. As long as the temperature remains above freezing where they’re hiding, they’re likely to survive. Even many individual insects will find places in tree stumps, underground, or in various other natural shelters. Colony insects like ants and honeybees will retreat to their nests or hives, sometimes sealing themselves off from the external world. There are many insects that don’t completely go into diapause but hunker down to avoid the cold nonetheless. ![]() Crickets, grasshoppers, praying mantises, and some types of spiders survive in the long term with this seasonal life cycle. These insects will lay eggs in protected places with the hope that they’ll hatch in the springtime. Many adult insects simply can’t survive the cold, but their eggs, larvae, nymphs, or pupae can. These insects, like the woolly bear caterpillar, actually do freeze, but revive upon thawing. These insects’ bodies can produce antifreeze proteins like glycerol that prevent the water in their bodies from turning into damaging ice crystals, which would kill them. Insects in more extreme freezing temperatures need an additional adaptation to survive the winter, even in diapause. Later, as temperatures warm up, its body will speed back up and it will return to its normal state. The insect will then find a safe place for overwintering, and its metabolism will slow down considerably. ![]() Essentially, the first signs of cold weather trigger the insect to start eating more to store up lots of nutrients. In the insect kingdom, hibernation is called diapause, and it’s similar to what animals like bears do in the winter. Some dragonflies, too, will fly south in search of warm weather, sometimes even crossing oceans. Monarch butterflies in North America, though, will head down to Mexico for the winter months. Many groups of animals migrate south for the winter, but there are relatively few migrational insects. There’s great variation in the insect kingdom when it comes to surviving winter temperatures. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |