The Firefly Lab

@lets-firefly.bsky.social

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Everything about the twilight twinkle & glam glow of #fireflies • science • conservation • literature • folklore • explorer + scientist @ Cornell ~ no, fireflies do not "flash from their butt" ~ ➡️ lucidluminescence.org

Correspondence by Edward S. Morse in Science Magazine in 1916 describing firefly synchrony in Maine.
" FIREFLIES FLASHING IN UNISON
Fifty years ago in Gorham, Maine, while walking along the road I passed an open field and noticed to my astonishment hundreds of fireflies flashing in perfect unison. I watched this curious sight for some time and the synchronism of the flashing was unbroken."

Thousands of fireflies light up in a dark forest. Photo by Mac Stone.

Fossil of a 100 million year old firefly caught in amber from Myanmar. On the left, a dorsal view, showing a morphology similar to present-day lampyrids (elytra, pronotum). On the right, the ventral view reveals abdominal light organs on the 6th and 7th segments, indicating that these ancestors could already produce bioluminescence. From the research article (2024) cited in the post.

Long exposure photograph showing a starry sky with the shadows of the Milky Way, and fireflies flashing in the vegetation below

A map of the United States indicating which of "fireflies" or "lightning bugs" is the most common term. The southeast uses "lightning bugs", while the northeast and west uses "fireflies".

Firefly larvae (Photuris)

Ellychnia corrusca (winter) firefly, with its distinctive black body (elytra) and red stripes on the pronotum. This one was found in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

Ventral view of a firefly, showing the two pale abdominal segments called lanterns