How and where do butterflies hibernate? All information about winter

In summer, butterflies adorn nature with their magnificent colors, but already in late summer the moths (Lepidoptera) are less and less visible until they usually disappear completely in autumn are. You start preparing for the cold season quite early. Some, like some bird species, migrate to more southerly climes where it is warmer, while others ever depending on the butterfly stage or life cycle, have different effects on the winter prepare. Experts explain how and where they spend the winter.

wintering

When it comes to butterflies and how they hibernate, it depends on what life cycle they are in. In addition, some species of butterflies do not overwinter in the cold areas of western Europe. In total, there are five wintering strategies, which basically relate to the following:

• butterfly
• dolls
• caterpillars
• eggs
• withdrawal to the south

butterfly

Of over 180 butterfly species currently known in Western Europe, only six Lepidoptera species overwinter in the cold region. These squamous moths, as they are also known, are the only ones that spend the winter in their moth form.

When autumn arrives, they start looking for a sheltered spot where they can find shelter from both predators and the cold. So they mostly choose caves like those found in some trees. But they also often find their winter quarters in garden sheds or cracks under roof tiles. Especially in urban areas, where little nature invites you to hibernate, it can also happen that they look for a place to hibernate in warmer basement rooms.

To the Lepidoptera-Species that overwinter in native areas include:

• Little fox
• C moth
• brimstone butterfly
• peacock butterfly
• Admiral moth
• mourning cloak

hibernation

Butterflies are among the cold-blooded groups of animals. This means their body temperature can adapt to outside temperatures. If these drop, the body temperature also drops, up to 0 degrees Celsius. Then they fall into the so-called hibernation. The hibernation usually occurs at ambient temperatures from around five degrees Celsius. In the run-up, at around temperatures between 10 and 15 degrees Celsius, the moths begin to reduce their metabolism. Breathing becomes increasingly shallow, the tubular heart slows down, and movement activity decreases rapidly. This process is completed with the transition to hibernation and the organ functionality is then only between three and seven percent compared to spring and summer time.

By shutting down all vital functions as well as motionless posture, the required Butterfly no food, because the energy requirement in the hibernation is also reduced to a minimum is. They do not have energy reserves, as is the case with the frog, for example, which eats up a fat deposit in advance, which also serves to warm the body.

unfreeze

If the ambient temperatures rise above eight degrees Celsius, the butterfly “awakens” from its hibernation. As a rule, however, he only goes back to "normality" when the nectar is waiting for him outside again. This is usually the case from March, although some specimens leave their winter quarters as early as January or February.

dolls

The butterfly pupae overwinter mainly on plant stems or other parts of plants. There they are spun into a cocoon so that they do not fall off. But they can also find suitable winter quarters buried in the ground. Unfortunately, hibernating for dolls isn't that easy these days. This is due to the fact that fields are often dug up in autumn, many plants are pruned back, in some cases massively, in winter and the soil is lifted by leaf hooks in the gardens.

Once the pupae have settled here for the winter, they are maneuvered out of their safe quarters and delivered to their predators, such as birds or mice.
Accordingly, butterflies will be seen less frequently in the following year. If the pupae survive the winter in a suitable place, they develop further in the spring and then flutter through the air as moths from around April or May.

The moths that hibernate in the pupa stage include, for example:

• Whitelings
• dovetail
• Aurora Butterfly

caterpillars

Caterpillars can hibernate in cold climes both as young caterpillars and as semi-adult and adult caterpillars. Depending on the butterfly species, they spend the cold winter time in different places. Some prefer a spot among vegetation, while others attach themselves to plant stems or the underside of leaves. Certain butterfly caterpillars also build dense webs especially for the winter, which offer them protection in crevices or the like. The caterpillars of the blue ant moths are drawn to ant nests to spend the coldest season there.

The following butterfly caterpillars overwinter in one way or another:

• blues
• Large Purple Fries
• chessboard

hibernation

Like the moths, the caterpillars fall into hibernation. Your body system shuts down by over 95 percent, the body becomes immobilized and the body temperature drops to 0 degrees Celsius. In contrast to the moths, they eat up plenty of fat deposits until the beginning of autumn so that the caterpillar body can feed on them during the winter torpor. In this way, it gets over the time without having to eat, since the hibernation also reduces its energy requirements by around 95 percent.

end of winter

If the temperatures rise in February/March, the rigidity slowly dissolves, the temperature rises evenly with the outside temperature and the caterpillars become active again. In the spring, they eat their fill to get enough energy to move on to the next stage of pupation.

butterfly eggs

The eggs of the butterflies are very robust and survive the winter without special frost protection. They are deposited on various parts of plants during the summer and are fixed there by attachment so that they do not fly away in strong winds. However, they are attached to the plant parts, which is also ideal food for their predators. Spiders, frogs or beetles are just a few examples of animal species that find butterfly eggs very appetizing. This is another reason why the number of butterflies is also steadily declining.

Examples of moths overwintering as eggs:

• hairstreak
• Apollo butterfly
• kidney spotted moth

migratory butterflies

It is simply too cold for some butterfly species in western Europe and their bodies are not able to react to freezing winter temperatures in a way that allows them to survive. These are usually moth species that originally came from warmer climes and migrated to western Europe for the summer. Most of them are therefore drawn back to the cold-free south in early autumn. In the following spring, the new generations come back mainly, after some of their mother animals have flown over the Alps to southern Europe or even to Africa.

However, the number of butterflies flying to Western Europe varies. This is based on various factors, which mainly relate to immigration or flight conditions. Frequent storms, numerous rainy days and strong temperature fluctuations ensure that fewer and fewer people set off or do not survive. But meanwhile some of the immigrated butterflies stay here in winter. This is due to climate change, which is causing winters to become progressively shorter and average temperatures higher.

butterflies, the Winter in the warm south spend are for example:

• Admiral Butterfly
• dovetail
• Postillon Butterfly
• Painted Lady

Garden wintering

So that butterflies can spend the winter in the home garden in every development cycle, it is important that optimal conditions for a (safe) winter quarters are created or maintained remain. First and foremost, you shouldn't cut off wilted flower stalks or perennial plants in late summer or fall. They provide a preferred hibernation spot for butterfly caterpillars and pupae and, in the worst case, could be accidentally discarded if they have already attached themselves.

Since butterflies in every phase of development and as moths also like protection against the cold in climbing plants wind-protected facades, a pruning in autumn would probably kill many of them mean. It is therefore advisable to refrain from pruning in autumn and to postpone it until spring, when the "summer birds" have left their winter quarters again.

house hibernation

If a butterfly, regardless of its life cycle, has "lost/fled away" in a residential building in autumn, hibernation here usually means death.
Temperatures above 12 degrees keep them from hibernation or let them wake up. This means that they become or remain active, which in turn results in an increased energy requirement. However, since there is no food to be found in winter, they cannot get any energy and will eventually starve. But simply dropping them outside in the cold would also cost them their lives because they would freeze to death if they weren't used to the cold. Therefore, it is important that you wisely approach the butterfly animals from the warmer environments move to colder places where the temperatures are at least 12 degrees Celsius, better around five degrees Celsius be.

 You can do this as follows:

• Carefully slide the butterfly into a small cardboard box with a lid
• In the upper area there must be a sufficiently large opening for coming out in the spring
• Initially, the opening remains closed
• Put the closed box in a cold place, such as a garage or garden shed
• After about a week, the cold ambient temperature should prevail inside the box
• The hibernation occurs or deepens
• Uncover the opening in the lid
• If possible, avoid disturbances such as noise
• After hibernating, the butterfly leaves the box on its own in the spring

Conclusion

Butterflies spend the cold winter season in different ways. This depends on the species of butterfly and their stage of development. Even if more and more species in Western Europe often spend the winter in hibernation, their frequency is decreasing and they are seen less and less in summer. It is all the more important that habitat for the winter quarters is preserved or created for them and you provide emergency assistance to the "summer birds" in each life cycle so that they survive the winter season can.

Learn more about garden animals