Lightning Bug

Lightning Bugs are in the beetle family. They are commonly called fireflies and are actually attempting to call a mate when they blink.

The technical name for their blinking is bioluminescence.

I think I’d rather call it blinking, it’s easier to pronounce.

Fireflies make what is called cold light. That means it has no ultraviolet rays and is pale or reddish green. It can also light up the area so efficiently that it has a 96 percent rating.

Lightning Bug
Lightning Bug

Fireflies have a lot of cousins. There are more than 2000 kinds of them alive in the world. Most of them are found in wet areas, or in woodlands where they can offer better food sources to the larvae.

Most fireflies are brown and have very soft bodies rather than hard like most beetles. Females look very much like males.

Some kinds of fireflies come out in the daytime rather than at night. They land on trees and shrubs and can only be seen in shadowy areas.
Fireflies mate in the air or on low shrubs.

A few days afterward the female lays her eggs on the ground, or just under the ground. Four week later the larvae hatch out of the eggs and eat until the very end of summer.

The larvae are called glowworms because they do glow lightly. They take about five months to become actually flying Lightning Bugs.

Fireflies do live through the winter, sometimes for several years, so the Lightning Bug you caught this week may be the one you caught and released last year.

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