An insect hotel, also known as a bug hotel or insect house, is a manmade structure created to provide shelter for

insects Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of j ...

. They can come in a variety of shapes and sizes depending on the specific purpose or specific insect it is catered to. Most consist of several different sections that provide insects with nesting facilities – particularly during winter, offering shelter or refuge for many types of insects. Their purposes include hosting pollinators.

Purpose

Many insect hotels are used as nest sites by insects including solitary bees and solitary wasps. These insects drag prey to the nest where an egg is deposited. Other insects hotels are specifically designed to allow the insects to hibernate, notable examples include

ladybirds Coccinellidae () is a widespread family of small beetles ranging in size from . They are commonly known as ladybugs in North America and ladybirds in Great Britain. Some entomologists prefer the names ladybird beetles or lady beetles as they ...

(ladybugs) and, arguably, butterflies. Insect hotels are popular amongst gardeners and fruit and vegetable growers due to their role encouraging insect pollination. Some elaborately designed insect hotels may also be attractions in their own right and, increasingly, can be found in pub gardens and various tourist locations.

Different hotels for different insects

Good materials to build insect hotels with can include using dry stone walls or old tiles. Drilled holes in the hotel materials also encourage insects to leave larvae to gestate. Therefore, different materials, such as stones and woods are recommended for a wide range and diversity of insect life. Logs and bark, and bound reeds and bamboo are also often used. The various components or sizes of holes to use as entry of an insect hotel attract different species. Ready-made insect hotels are also found at garden centers, and particularly ecological and educational conservational centers and organisations.

Solitary bees and wasps

Solitary bees, and solitary

wasp A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. ...

s do not live within a hive with a

queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

. Various species of solitary bees have different needs. The vast majority of these nest in tunnels dug in bare soil, but carpenter, mason, and leaf cutter bees nest in a tube. Only the latter two types nest in ready-made tubes in a bee hotel. They have species-specific preferences for tube diameter (2-10 mm) and length (about 10 cm). A fertilized female makes a series of cells in a tube, one egg per cell provisioned with pollen and sealed with mud or leaf cuttings, respectively. These bees spend most of their life in a cell, as larva then cocoon over winter. They emerge in spring timed to pollinate fruit and almond trees. Males live very briefly as adults, just long enough to mate with females, who live just long enough to complete nesting. A common type of bee hotel is created from a

wooden log Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars. Logging is the beginning of a supply chain ...

, portion of a cut

tree trunk In botany, the trunk (or bole) is the stem and main wooden axis of a tree, which is an important feature in tree identification, and which often differs markedly from the bottom of the trunk to the top, depending on the species. The trunk is th ...

or a stone block in which holes are drilled of different sizes (e.g. 2, 4, 6 and 8 mm) with the openings a few centimeters apart. The holes are slightly tilted upwards from the opening so rainwater can drain out, and are drilled about 10 cm into the material, while keeping the end solid. The entrances to these burrows must be smooth enough so that the delicate bodies of the insects are not damaged, with the exterior of wooden bee hotels being frequently sanded. The best location for a bee hotel is a warm and sheltered place, such as a southern-facing (in the northern hemisphere) wall or hedge. The first insects are already active towards the end of

winter Winter is the coldest season of the year in polar and temperate climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Different cultur ...

and would be actively seeking for such a place to settle. Other species like to furnish their nests with

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

, stone and

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class o ...

, or in between bricks. A bee hotel should be in place for only one season, replaced with fresh material in spring. This is because some solitary wasps lay eggs in the egg, larva, or coccoon of tube nesting bees. The cells may also contain fly maggots or pollen mites that killed the bee larva. Clean tubes for the nesting bees in spring will also remove parisitoid larva, failed bee larva, and other detritus. Many fans of these bees now put out blocks of wood with tubes drilled and cut so that the layers can be separated to view and remove tube contents during the winter. Others prefer cardboard tubes, each lined with a replaceable paper tube or designed to be torn open. In all three cases, healthy cocoons are removed to an emergence box, kept cool over winter, and put out as spring buds break. Parisitoids are destroyed. A simple bundle of

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, ...

or reeds, tied or put in an old

tin can A steel can, tin can, tin (especially in British English, Australian English, Canadian English and South African English), steel packaging, or can is a container for the distribution or storage of goods, made of thin metal. Many cans ...

and hung in a warm place, may be suitable for some solitary bees. The bamboo must be cut in a specific way to allow entry for the insects. Often people may add stems of

elderberry ''Sambucus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Adoxaceae. The various species are commonly called elder or elderberry. The genus was formerly placed in the honeysuckle family, Caprifoliaceae, but was reclassified as Adoxaceae due to ge ...

rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...

blackberry The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by many species in the genus ''Rubus'' in the family Rosaceae, hybrids among these species within the subgenus ''Rubus'', and hybrids between the subgenera ''Rubus'' and ''Idaeobatus''. The taxonomy ...

shoots whose marrow can serve as a food source as well.

Butterflies

Butterflies that hibernate prefer sheltered places such as crevices in houses and sheds, or enclosed spaces such as those in bundles of leaves. Some insect hotels incorporate special butterfly enclosures with vertical slits that take into account the animals' sensitive

wings A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expre ...

, but the suitability of these enclosures for butterflies is disputed.

Parasitic insects

By using an insect hotel,

parasitic Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson ha ...

insects are also attracted to make use of the facilities.

Cuckoo bee The term cuckoo bee is used for a variety of different bee lineages which have evolved the kleptoparasitic behaviour of laying their eggs in the nests of other bees, reminiscent of the behavior of cuckoo birds. The name is perhaps best applied to ...

s and

wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. ...

will lay their eggs within the nests of others in order to provide them with readily available food upon hatching without the parent insect having to provide for them. Hotels also attract

predatory Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...

insects which help control unwanted bugs. For example,

earwig Earwigs make up the insect order Dermaptera. With about 2,000 species in 12 families, they are one of the smaller insect orders. Earwigs have characteristic cerci, a pair of forcep-like pincers on their abdomen, and membranous wings folde ...

s are good to have present in and near

fruit tree A fruit tree is a tree which bears fruit that is consumed or used by animals and humans — all trees that are flowering plants produce fruit, which are the ripened ovaries of flowers containing one or more seeds. In horticultural usage, t ...

s as they eat the plant lice that may settle on the tree and disturb fruit growth. A

terracotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...

flower pot A flowerpot, planter, planterette or plant pot, is a container in which flowers and other plants are cultivated and displayed. Historically, and still to a significant extent today, they are made from plain terracotta with no ceramic glaze, wi ...

hung upside-down, filled with bundles of straw or

wood wool Wood wool, known primarily as excelsior in North America, is a product made of wood slivers cut from logs. It is mainly used in packaging, for cooling pads in home evaporative cooling systems known as swamp coolers, for erosion control mats, and ...

is an ideal house for earwigs. Ladybirds are easy to cater for by placing many

twig A twig is a thin, often short, branch of a tree or bush. The buds on the twig are an important diagnostic characteristic, as are the abscission scars where the leaves have fallen away. The color, texture, and patterning of the twig bark ar ...

s within an open wooden box on its side to provide many small cavities. Ladybirds prefer to hibernate in larger groups so this will encourage many to settle in one specific place.

Isopods Isopoda is an order of crustaceans that includes woodlice and their relatives. Isopods live in the sea, in fresh water, or on land. All have rigid, segmented exoskeletons, two pairs of antennae, seven pairs of jointed limbs on the thorax, and ...

have their usefulness as scavengers in the garden. These animals like large gaps between stacked bricks and

roof tiles Roof tiles are designed mainly to keep out rain, and are traditionally made from locally available materials such as terracotta or slate. Modern materials such as concrete, metal and plastic are also used and some clay tiles have a waterproof ...

to shelter from rain and to hide from predators.

Environmental impacts

Insect hotels are generally thought to be a positive force in restoring or maintaining wild pollinator populations, especially native bees, many of which are

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and in ...

due to various factors such as competition with introduced bees like the

western honey bee The western honey bee or European honey bee (''Apis mellifera'') is the most common of the 7–12 species of honey bees worldwide. The genus name ''Apis'' is Latin for "bee", and ''mellifera'' is the Latin for "honey-bearing" or "honey carrying" ...

. Insect hotels are especially thought to be a valuable resource for insects that have had their primary natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

destroyed. An example is '' Anthidium palliventre'', which were common in the sand dunes of the

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

area – the species has struggled as the dunes have mostly been paved over for urban development. Such insects are often forced to find alternative housing, such as in city parks, typically with less success. Over half of North America's native wild bees face similar difficulties, and the actual number is possibly greater due to insufficient data on certain species. Bee hotels are sometimes constructed, whether by private actors, such as well-meaning homeowners and gardeners, or by government-led

conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and managem ...

projects, in attempts to remedy this issue and provide habitat to stabilize struggling native bee populations. A few recent studies suggest the possibility, however, that bee hotels, in particular, might do more harm than good in certain situations. In a 2020 study, urban bee hotels in the city of Marseille, France, were found to be primarily inhabited by an exotic bee species, ''M. structuralis'', whose presence correlated with lower native bee numbers in the area. A separate study in 2015 reported that bee hotels might be habitats for introduced bees and native bee natural enemies such as predatory and

parasitic wasps Parasitoid wasps are a large group of hymenopteran superfamilies, with all but the wood wasps ( Orussoidea) being in the wasp-waisted Apocrita. As parasitoids, they lay their eggs on or in the bodies of other arthropods, sooner or later cau ...

, rather than habitats for endangered native bees, as well as potentially being foci of insect

disease A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...

s and further putting native bees at risk. Special attention must be given to the details of insect hotels, such as the diameter of the holes, as this is a key factor in which insects are attracted to the hotel - a variation in diameter of just 1 mm can make the difference between providing habitat for native bees with more specialized habitat needs, or the more generalist adaptable introduced bees they compete with. An alternative solution entirely might be more beneficial for conservation, however, as most wild solitary bees tend to nest underground and are not usually attracted to bee hotels.

Gallery

File:Pontgibaud hôtel insectes.JPG, Insect house in

Pontgibaud Pontgibaud () is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme départment in Auvergne in central France. It is located in the Massif Central region of France on the banks of the river Sioule. The area around the town was historically known for silver and lead ...

Puy-de-Dôme Puy-de-Dôme (; oc, label=Auvergnat, lo Puèi de Doma or ''lo Puèi Domat'') is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in the centre of France. In 2019, it had a population of 662,152.France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

File:GER Wuppertal Hardt 005 2016.jpg, Insect hotel in the

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

Wuppertal Wuppertal (; "''Wupper Dale''") is, with a population of approximately 355,000, the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia as well as the 17th-largest city of Germany. It was founded in 1929 by the merger of the cities and tow ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

File:Botanischer Garten Insektenhotel.JPG, Insect hotel in the botanical garden of

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

, Germany File:Insektenhotel Kelheim.jpg, Insect hotel near

Kelheim Kelheim () is a town and municipality in Bavaria, Germany. It is the capital of the district Kelheim and is situated at the confluence of the rivers Altmühl and Danube. Kelheim has a population of around 16,750 (2020). History Kelheim is t ...

, Germany File:Bug Mansion, West Grinstead Station - geograph.org.uk - 226281.jpg, Insect hotel made from wooden pallets, West Grinstead railway station,

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

File:Hmyzí hotel 0411u.jpg, Insect hotel in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

File:Hmyzí hotel 0416u.jpg, Insect hotel in the

References

Bibliography

* Underwood, Emily (2020) "Small Wonders: The Plight and Promise of California's Native Bees". ''California Native Plant Society''. 2021-06-25. Retrieved 2022-05-29. * "Landmark Report: Hundreds of Native Bee Species Sliding Toward Extinction". ''www.biologicaldiversity.org''. Retrieved 2022-05-29. * Russo, Laura; de Keyzer, Charlotte W; Harmon-Threatt, Alexandra N; LeCroy, Kathryn A; MacIvor, James Scott (2021-08-01). "The managed-to-invasive species continuum in social and solitary bees and impacts on native bee conservation". ''Current Opinion in Insect Science''. Special Section on Pollinator decline: human and policy dimensions * Social insects. 46: 43–49. doi:10.1016/j.cois.2021.01.001.

ISSN An International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) is an eight-digit serial number used to uniquely identify a serial publication, such as a magazine. The ISSN is especially helpful in distinguishing between serials with the same title. ISSNs ...

2214-5745. * MacIvor, J. Scott; Packer, Laurence (2015-03-18). "'Bee Hotels' as Tools for Native Pollinator Conservation: A Premature Verdict?". ''PLoS One''. 10 (3): e0122126. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0122126.

1932-6203. PMC 4364699.

PMID PubMed is a free search engine accessing primarily the MEDLINE database of references and abstracts on life sciences and biomedical topics. The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) at the National Institutes of Health maintain the ...

25785609. * Geslin, Benoît; Gachet, Sophie; Deschamps-Cottin, Magali; Flacher, Floriane; Ignace, Benjamin; Knoploch, Corentin; Meineri, Éric; Robles, Christine; Ropars, Lise; Schurr, Lucie; Le Féon, Violette (2020-05-01). "Bee hotels host a high abundance of exotic bees in an urban context". ''Acta Oecologica''. 105: 103556. doi:10.1016/j.actao.2020.103556.

1146-609X. * Geslin, Benoit; Ropars, Lise; Zakardjian, Marie; Flacher, Floriane (2022-01-26). "The misplaced management of bees". doi:10.22541/au.164319695.57033003/v1.

External links

* * {{cite web , url= https://www.wildlifehc.org/knowledge-resource/build-a-bug-palace , title = Build a Bug Palace

Hotels A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

Habitat management equipment and methods Biological pest control Wildlife conservation