Updated at 11:22 p.m. on June 8, 2023
In October 2016, during a challenging hike through the treacherous mountains of Washington’s Alpine Lakes Wilderness, John Tuthill experienced a remarkable encounter. Despite being at an elevation of almost 8,000 feet, facing freezing temperatures and high winds, Tuthill and his companion noticed the presence of small, brown insects darting across the pristine snow. The fact that any insects were active in such an extreme environment defied biological and physical expectations. Tuthill, a neuroscientist specializing in flies, was captivated by this spectacle and went on to study these extraordinary creatures, which he named snow flies.
Snow flies are a group of insects that have received little scientific attention. Unlike other winged insects, they rely on sprinting like spiders to move around. What sets them apart is their ability to survive and remain active in freezing conditions where most insects would become immobilized. Tuthill, who works at the University of Washington, compared their resilience to his experiments with fruit flies, which he anesthetizes by chilling them to 2 degrees Celsius. Surprisingly, snow flies can continue to move even at temperatures as low as -7 degrees Celsius, and they prefer near-freezing temperatures. Holding them in your hand agitates them, but placing them in a fridge has a calming effect.
Due to the difficult terrain in which snow flies thrive, little is known about them. Tuthill attempted to involve the public in his research by encouraging them to capture and send him snow flies, but the response was limited. Despite this, Tuthill takes pleasure in personally collecting these creatures, as their activity coincides with the ideal conditions for backcountry skiing. However, his colleague Dominic Golding made a groundbreaking discovery about snow flies. Using thermal cameras, he observed that snow flies are able to amputate their own legs when ice starts to form in their bodies. This unique adaptation allows them to prevent the spreading ice crystals from killing them.
Tuthill believes that snow flies have developed a defensive reflex that detects temperature changes instead of pulls and tugs, which their close relatives, crane flies, use to escape from predators. They sense the bursts of heat that occur when ice first forms, triggering a muscular contraction that detaches the freezing limb. This unorthodox strategy is effective, and Tuthill has even observed three-legged snow flies moving quickly in the wild. Remarkably, their nervous systems continue to function until the moment they freeze, despite the physiological constraints imposed by the temperature.
Snow flies primarily engage in the search for mates rather than eating. They fearlessly engage in prolonged mating rituals, even when exposed to predators against a white snowy backdrop. Their low visibility and lack of predators in their habitat explain their adaptation to running over glaciers. These resilient creatures may actually lead quite pleasant lives, according to Tuthill. However, the future survival of snow flies is uncertain due to climate change. With diminishing snowfall in Washington, they are likely to be pushed to higher altitudes, eventually running out of mountain to inhabit.
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