Common eastern firefly
The common eastern firefly is a small soft beetle with a light in its tummy. On summer evenings the males fly around blinking, drawing glowing J shapes in the air. The females sit in the grass and blink back if they like what they see.
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Fun facts
It is the most common firefly in North America.
The babies glow too. Their light warns hungry animals to stay away.
It tastes horrible to birds and bats, because its body has special bad-tasting chemicals.
A larva can live under the ground for up to two years before it changes into a beetle.
Its biggest dangers are bright lights at night, poisons sprayed on plants and building on the places where it lives.
Most asked questions about Common eastern firefly
?Why do fireflies light up?
They blink to find a mate. The males flash while flying, and the females answer from the grass.
?What do fireflies eat?
The larvae eat worms, slugs and snails under the soil.
?How long does a firefly live?
As a grown-up beetle it lives about three weeks to two months, but it can spend up to two years as a larva.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Photinus pyralis
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Lampyridae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Lampyridae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- Big dipper firefly, Lightning bug
Where the facts come from
- Photinus pyralis (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by art farmer from evansville indiana, usa. CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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