Detailed information on Firefly, Lightning Bug (Photinus pyralis)

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anghave

Narka, KS | August 2018 | Positive

Those who visit north central Kansas from areas of the US where "lightning bugs" don't appear are always fascinated by these unique creatures!

It just isn't summer until I see the field by my driveway scattered with their fluorescent green lights blinking on and off at twilight.

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MEMOMDUFF

Wilmington, DE | August 2018 | Positive

Still plenty of lightning bugs here in Southeastern Pa. Not as many as when my kids were young 40 years ago.

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ktellef

Crete, IL | August 2018 | Positive

Still abundant here in the rural suburbs south of Chicago. We get hundreds of them in our little 1-acre lot. Our favorite thing to do at night is grab a glass of wine and just stand out there among them. See probably thousands of them over the farm fields nearby.

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papa1

Dearborn, MI (Zone 5b) | August 2018 | Positive

They are still abundant in Michigan. Kids love to chase and catch them. If we could only figure out a way to harvest their energy!

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Glorianne

Screven, GA | August 2018 | Positive

Growing up in mid -east Alabama, we "played" with lightning bugs every summer. Now as a senior citizen retired in SE Georgia for 14 years, we have seen them only a very few times. The most recent was about a month ago. There were thousands over our front yard. We live across the road from a lake in a farming/pine forest rural area. Watching the lightning bugs from our front porch for hours was a rare treat for which we were thankful. I don't know where they live, but I wonder whether they have migration routes.

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patootie

Jacksonville, AR (Zone 7b) | October 2017 | Positive

Maybe 10 a year I see here where they used to be in the thousands when i was a kid growing up in Arkansas. Monsanto's poison I;m sure
has caused the decline. I can't imagine what else it might be.

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DavidofDeLand

DeLand, FL (Zone 9b) | February 2013 | Neutral

Where have all the Fireflies gone in Central Florida I wonder. Many of us here have noticed their seeming decline over the years. Where they used to light the sky in thousands on over a century owned rural family property, ( a controlled area in which generations can witness and share the remembrances) they have been a compete No Show in the last decade at least...

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Ithiel

Detroit, MI | August 2010 | Positive

It is not uncommon to see hundreds of these fireflies buzzing about near dusk in southeast Michigan. A staple of summer.

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palmbob

Acton, CA (Zone 8b) | December 2006 | Neutral

It's interesting that the east half of the country takes the existence of fireflies for granted- part of everyday (or everynight life... at least in the summers)... but growing up west of the Mississippi, in New Mexico, I never saw a firefly. They don't have them here in California, either. It wasn't until I visited my cousins on the east coast that I was exposed to these magical creatures.

There are several kinds of fireflies, though can't say I could begin to tell them apart... but their flashing off and on are signals to the opposite sex. Males flash in one sequence, while females flash in another. And some species of fireflies eat others and 'pretend' to be an attracting mate by flashing like one- pretty sneaky strategy!

From a veterinary point of vi... read more

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blossombloom

Griffin, GA | December 2006 | Positive

This bug brings back childhood memories. When I was a little girl, around dusk these fireflies would come out and I would catch them and put them in a jar. But know that I think back maybe this is why we don't see that many fireflies any more. Or maybe it's because so many woods are being destroyed.
I do not not know too much about them but they are pretty to watch at dusk.

Firefly, Lightning Bug

Photinuspyralis

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