A Novel Insect Overwintering Strategy: The Case of Mealybugs

Abstract

Insects have limited ability to regulate their body temperature and have thus required a range of strategies to withstand thermally stressful environments. Under unfavorable winter conditions, insects often take refuge under the soil surface to survive. Here, the mealybug insect family was selected for the study. Field experiments were performed in fruit orchards in eastern Spain. We used specifically designed floor sampling methods combined with fruit tree canopy pheromone traps. We found that in temperate climates, the large majority of the mealybugs move from the tree canopy to the roots during the winter, where they turn into belowground root-feeding herbivores to survive and continue underground the reproductive process. Within the rhizosphere, mealybugs complete at least one generation before emerging on the soil surface. The preferred area to overwinter is within 1 m in diameter around the fruit tree trunk, where more than 12,000 mealybug flying males per square meter can emerge every spring. This overwintering pattern has not previously been reported for any other group of insects showing cold avoidance behavior. These findings have implications at the winter ecology level but also at the agronomical level since treatments to control mealybug pests are, until now, only based on the fruit trees’ canopy.

Glycerol Metabolism is Important for the Low-Temperature Adaptation of a Global Quarantine Pest Anoplophora glabripennis Larvae

“…Insects have evolved a myriad of behavioral and physiological strategies to weather these challenges and ensure population continuity. In addition to avoiding direct exposure to low temperatures by migration, burrowing, or seeking refuge in rock crevices, many insects adapt to winter survival through molecular and biochemical regulation. − Studies have shown that cold exposure can induce the upregulated expression of heat shock proteins in species such as D. melanogaster, Bemisia tabaci, and B.…”