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. 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. Fireflies are 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 millimetres long. They can’t even fly fast. They have a life span of about two months. The only continent without fireflies is the Antarctica.
The light from a firefly is produced under a nervous control within special cells which are richly supplied with air tubes. Only the light from the visible spectrum is emitted.
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 male 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 for which all have different meanings, they could be one continuous glow or discrete single flashes.
Fireflies are the only creatures that give off light without generating heat, not even electricity does that!
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.
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Written By Luke Ward
Luke Ward is the founder of TheFactSite. He is professional blogger, with over four years experience. He enjoys writing about celebrities, film and TV. His latest achievement was graduating for BA (Hons) in Motion Graphics.
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