It is Cold Outside. Where did all the Butterflies Go?

Great spangled fritillary (Speyeria cybele)
Its tiny caterpillars will survive the winter
© Beatriz Moisset

Winter has arrived. What happened to all the six legged creatures we saw in summer? Where did the crawling, scuttling, flitting, buzzing multitudes go? Those of us who live in temperate and colder climates notice the disappearance of practically all insects when the weather gets cold. We are talking about the ones that live outdoors, not about those aggravating creatures that turn our houses into their homes.

Red admiral (Vanessa atalanta), one of the travelers
© Beatriz Moisset

Some of our favorite butterflies illustrate three different winter strategies.
1. Most adult butterflies die, the next generation lives on
2. A few migrate to warmer climates
3. Even fewer hunker down and wait for spring to come

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Beginners Guide to Pollinators and Other Flower Visitors

© Beatriz Moisset. 2016
 

Moths as Pollinators

Moths evolved to deal with flowers. Their long, tube-like tongues are just right for sipping nectar from long-necked blossoms. Nectar is practically the only food of adult moths, thus a strong partnership with flowers developed. We are familiar with butterflies pollinating flowers, but easily forget about moths. Actually, butterflies are a specialized type of moths, or, more properly they are all Lepidoptera.

Then, it is important to learn more about the role of moths in pollination. Here are a few articles that deal with this subject.

Yellow-collared scape moth on turtlehead

Black-and-yellow lichen moth, a little known pollinator
Crambid snout moths
Gardening for Honorary Butterflies: Mint Moths
Hummingbird Moths. Where do they go in Winter?
Inch worms: more little known pollinators
Little known moth pollinators: seed casebearers and flower moths
Metalmark moths. More little known pollinators
Noctuids, another family of little known pollinators
Plume Moths. More Little Known Pollinators
Pollinators, the Night Shift
Yellow-collared scape moth
The Yucca Moth and the Yucca
Zygaenidae, more little known pollinators

Geometrid caterpillar, or inchworm (Eupithecia) on sunflower

Other Articles on Moths and other Lepidoptera:

Bugs in the Garden. Hornworm: Friend or Foe? Friend and Foe
Caterpillars are for the Birds
Food for wildlife
Gardening for Honorary Butterflies (Mint Moths)
Pollinators in Winter: Fritillaries

Hummingbird moth on Monarda

Hummingbird Moth
Hawk Moths
Ailanthus Web-worm Moth
Yellow-collared Scape Moth
Carnivorous Lepidoptera. In Bugguide.net
Projectile Frassing. In Flickr
Pollinators in second shift: moths. Dave's Garden
Pollination by Nocturnal Lepidoptera and Effects of Light Pollution: a Review

Videos

Moving frass around

Leaf roller silk spinning

Nectaring corn-earworm moth

Beginners Guide to Pollinators and Other Flower Visitors

List of articles 

© Beatriz Moisset. 2012

Hummingbird Moths. Where do They go in Winter?

Not all moths fly at night; some choose to do it during the day. One of them is the hummingbird moth, so called because it looks and flies and even hums like a diminutive version of a hummingbird when hovering in front of flowers. Just like their feathered namesakes hummingbird moths love long throated flowers, such as bee balm or horse mint. But unlike them, they don’t migrate south when the cold weather arrives. They resort to a different strategy to survive the harsh weather and lack of food.

Like all moths and butterflies they have a complex life cycle with dramatic transformations, called metamorphosis. The distinctive stages are called egg, larva or caterpillar, pupa and adult or imago. The one you are most familiar with is the adult, that colorful flying marvel; the other stages are wingless and prefer to remain out of sight and out of danger. The larva’s job is to eat almost non-stop and to grow; the pupa goes through a resting period and later through a tremendous remodeling job where all the parts are transformed to turn into the active, winged creature which we see during the summer. The flying adult’s whole purpose is to find a mate and to start the next generation; for that they need nourishment, nectar, which they find in flowers.

It is in the resting state of pupa that they choose to spend the winter. After the caterpillar reaches full size feeding on any of its favorite plants, such as hawthorn, black cherry or wild rose, it drops to the ground. There it spins a loose cocoon that lies partially buried under the leaf litter. Leaf litter is very important to this species; it provides some protection against the winter weather and against predators. When birds or squirrels go through leaf litter, scattering it here and there, they may very well be looking for one of these nutritious morsels.

If the pupa survives these attacks, it will complete its metamorphosis and emerge as a winged adult next spring, when nectar-laden flowers are blooming again.

Moths as Pollinators
List of articles

© Beatriz Moisset. 2010