Charlie,

"..I have no doubt that some insects can 'migrate' over much greater distances than some might find imaginable..."

I agree.

In a class several years ago an entomologist told me several species of moths (lesser and greater) do migrate to the North every year from the South.  They, like the thrips ride the air currents and storms which come up from the South.  When the jet stream moves up North it allows the air stream from the Gulf to flow North.

In previous discussion on this forum about wax moths,  several posters also made note the wax moths can overwinter here in a protected environment (a garage or shed where the extracted supers or dead out brood boxes might be stored) especially if a winter is not too brutal and severe.

A friend of mine also had them overwinter in his basement.   He had some old comb and some old wax he had put into empty sugar bags to use as fire starters.

I would suggest the wax moths survive all year long in Texas or maybe even further South and make a very rapid Northward migration each year.
 

Steve P.

Central Illinois

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