Fireflies are also known as Lightning Bugs; they are named as they are nocturnal luminous insects of the beetle family Lampyridae.
An example of another insect in this family is the common glow worm.
Check out these 14 fun facts about fireflies!
There are about 1,900 species of fireflies in the world.
In North America alone, there are over 170 different species.
Most young fireflies feed on nectar and pollen, although adult fireflies do not need to eat to survive.
Fireflies do not bite or have pincers. They’re harmless; they don’t even carry diseases.
Fireflies are beetles with soft bodies; they are small creatures, with the average firefly being between 5 and 25 millimeters long.
They can’t even fly fast.
They have a life span of about two months.
The only continent without fireflies is Antarctica.
The light from a firefly is produced under nervous control within special cells, which are richly supplied with air tubes. Only the light from the visible spectrum is emitted.
Fireflies are the only creatures that give off light without generating heat. Not even electricity does that!
The female fireflies attract male fireflies with their glowing bodies. Yes, that’s right – they flash at them! The way that it works is the females will sit in the high grass to flash to certain males only. The female chooses the males depending on their flash pattern.
Flashing isn’t just used to attract attention; it can act as a warning to predators, although frogs seem to ignore this warning and eat them anyway.
These flashing signals are different, and all have different meanings; they could be one continuous glow or discrete single flashes.
Fireflies by Owl City was a number-one hit single in the US and UK. It started out with a musical project by Adam Young in his parent’s basement. He received a lot of attention through MySpace, which was the main start of his career.
