Abstract: By the method of supercooling point (SCP) determination, this paper studied the cold tolerance of Catantops pinguis Stal in different seasons, and the effects of insect body water content, crude fat, total protein and total sugar on it. The results showed that there was a significant seasonal variation in the SCP of C. pinguis. The mean SCP value of fall C. pinguis population was （-23.1 ± 0.2） ℃, while that of post-winter and summer C. pinguis populations was （-19.3 ± 0.1） ℃ and （-4.0 ± 0.1） ℃, respectively. The water content in summer population was significantly higher than that in winter population, but little difference was observed in fall and post-winter populations, indicating that C. pinguis had eliminated the redundantdissociate water during the preparation period for its over-wintering. After winter, the contents of fat and sugar in C. pinguis decreased significantly because the storage of these compounds was expended to maintain the body temperature at winter time, and consequently, resulted in a marked increase of SCP in post-winter population. There was no significant difference in the contents of water and crude fat between female and male C. pinguis, but the total protein content of female C. pinguis was higher than that of male C. pinguis in summer while significantly lower in winter, because large amount of nutrients was expended by the female C. pinguis to form eggs.

Key words: Loess Plateau, Soil moisture content, Spatial he terogeneity, Dominant controls, Profile pattern, Temporal dynamics