One of the delights of summer in
many parts of the
United States is the arrival of tiny
"shooting stars" in the yard. Fireflies or lightning
bugs are a type of beetle which produces light by
means of a luminescent organ located near their
abdomen.
There are at least two types of
fireflies. The ones that live east of the Rocky
Mountains have both male and females that blink
their lights. On the west side of the Rockies, the
adult female glows but does not fly while the male
flies but does not glow. The immature larval form of
some types of fireflies also light up and are
called...you guessed it, glow worms. Isn't nature
funny?
Why do they light up? Well, it is
part of their mating ritual used to attract mates.
They start blinking at around dusk and the frequency
of the flashes increases as the night progresses.
