Ice Bug!

When bugs come to your mind, do you think of them as warm climate insects that can get into your house or eat up your garden? Not all insects live in tropical habitats. There are some that can be found in the freezing Arctic, and one that lives in the coldest place on earth, Antarctica (this continent can reach close to minus 100 degrees fahrenheit). This is the Antarctic Midge, which is about the size of a pencil eraser or smaller. The Antarctic Midge is the only land terrestrial animal found only on Antarctica, and no where else in the world!

This fascinating bug can survive temperatures as low as minus 4 degrees fahrenheit (that is it’s limit). As it hibernates under a covering of snow and ice, the temperature is a bit warmer than the surrounding air. This helps it adapt to low freezing temperatures, but it can not survive temperatures too low for the way it’s designed. So under the right conditions, encased in this ice layer, this tiny insect can survive through the winter, and adapt in some of the most coldest times in Antarctica.

Other species of midges on warm climate continents, will forage for nectar while others eat plant and animal matter. The Antarctic Midge will eat algae, bacteria, and nitrogen-rich penguin waste. So this bug, like the vulture, is one of creation’s greatest clean up crew. Without these special insects, penguins could be walking on top of hundreds of feet of dung!

Since they don’t have any natural predators, they live a peaceful life.

The differences between the male and female is size. The female is larger and has a larger abdomen. The male is smaller and thinner than the female.

Not only is the Antarctic Midge one of my new favorite insects, but I also find it as radical evidence for a powerful, intelligent, and almighty designer, whose name is Jesus. There is no way evolution can explain how it can do all this. I believe it is the Lord Jesus that has made it this way and to be able to survive in the coldest place on earth! This really is a true Ice bug!

This is Maximus Adventures, over and out!

“Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him:

 And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist”. Colossians 1:15-17