No, that’s not true. Some species of gnats hibernate by burrowing into the ground and finding a small den where they go to sleep for the winter. So what happens to these animals during the winter?

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In the ground, a gnat will be very warm. While its body temperature is not as high as that of other animals, it still has a body temperature higher than that of air. It has special hairs called “trichia” on its back legs that let it stay warm; even if the soil where it burrows gets cold (underground temperatures can reach -20 degrees Celsius or less), the gnat is able to keep itself warmer than the local environment.

The gnats hibernate by sleeping for most of the winter. Sometimes they wake up and feed themselves on dead insects; this saves them from having to go out in search of food (their preferred diet consists of nectar). The smaller species don’t need to eat during the winter, because they feed on nectar.

Just before spring, adults emerge from their holes and begin to mate immediately. Females travel first to waterways (creeks, brooks) where they lay eggs; others gnats remain in dry places until around April or May when the weather gets warmer. When it rains, females go out looking for water bodies where they can lay their eggs. Once there, mating occurs quickly – males die shortly after pairing with a female! Female gnats then fly over algal mats that form in wet areas and place a few eggs in each one. Then they fly away again and die shortly thereafter… but not before laying thousands of fertilized eggs! The larvae hatch from these eggs at any time but may overwinter with the algae mats for protection if necessary.

Eventually, lots of larvae grow into adults and begin to mate. The cycle continues…

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