February 5 - Snug Bug
Welcome to the Nature Notebook.

A crackling fire and mug of hot chocolate on a  winter’s day when a cold wind is howling and snow is in the air might be our idea of a warm, snug place to be. For a goldenrod gallfly larva, a winter refuge is much different. Tucked securely into the woody stem of a goldenrod, surrounded by a ball-like swelling of insulative plant material, the gallfly grub spends the winter in solitary confinement. Hatched from an egg laid several months ago, the tiny larva burrowed into the plant’s tissues and began chomping away. The plant reacted by growing a ball gall around the grub. As winter approaches, the fly larva develops a natural antifreeze that protects it from the most frigid temperatures. If the grub survives foraging downy woodpeckers, it slumbers until spring when it pupates and emerges as an adult goldenrod gall fly.

This is PPL's naturalist, Jon Beam, with the Nature Notebook for WVIA.