Twinkle, Twinkle Lightning Bug

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Suzanne Wainwright-Evans

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How many of these summertime friends did you keep in a jar when you were a kid?

Twinkle, twinkle little star...no wait! That’s a lightning bug – one of the most familiar sights of summer, and loved by all. Not only do lightning bugs provide entertainment at those evening summer barbeques, they’re a beneficial insect helping keep your pest problems in check.

Lightning bugs, or fireflies, are soft-bodied beetles and aren’t really bugs at all – they’re a true beetle, just like a ladybug, only in a different beetle family. They’re slightly different than other beetles, though, in that their top set of wings isn’t hard, but more leatherlike. They belong in the Lampyridae (pronounced: lamb-PIER-ri-dee) family, and there are about 200 different species native to the US.

Most people know the most obvious characteristic of the lightning bug: The abdomen on the adults light up. The males do it to indicate their location and announce that they’re sexually mature. The females flash back in response to show their location and to let the males know that they’re ready to mate. Different species of lightning bugs have different flashing patterns, so each can find their own species in the sea of flashing lights at night.

Besides their flashing, lightning bugs can be identified by their soft, leathery wings. They can grow up to 3/4 of an inch long, and their heads are covered with a shield and can’t be seen from above. As adults, they typically don’t feed, but they may take an occasional meal of pollen or nectar.

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Lightning bug larvae may not be as fun to catch as the adults, but they’re great beneficials for the lawn and garden!

Have you ever wondered where the lightning bugs are the rest of the year, when they’re not lighting up those summer nights? Well, they’re right under your feet as larvae, and they’re crawling around, looking for meat!

Lightning bug larvae are carnivorous. They feed on other insect larvae, worms, snails and slugs. Thanks to this diet, they’re a great beneficial insect to have in your lawn and garden. When in this larval stage, they look more like pillbugs than fireflies. They’re flattened, have toothed edges and no wings. They don’t flash like the adults, but they can glow for a few seconds. Typically our native species take two years to complete their life cycles, with the adults emerging in great numbers in June and July.

Lightning bugs are a special gift to us, twinkling in the summer nights. They provide hours of entertainment for children chasing them, they help us out in our gardens, and they’re a true American treasure.

Warnings

Native lightning bugs can be toxic to some lizards and frogs not native to the US, so don’t feed them to your pet reptiles!

Facts

Aztecs used the term “firefly” metaphorically, meaning a spark of knowledge in a world of ignorance or darkness.
Native Americans collected lightning bugs and smeared them as decorations on their faces and chests.

Definitions

Beetle: A kind of insect that has four pairs of wings, usually with a hard outer pair that protects the inner wings. (Beetles are not bugs.)

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