The Fourth of July is such an important day in history, even Mother Nature celebrates with the emergence of one of her most amazing creatures–the firefly, aka lightning bug. It’s neither fire nor lightning that these insects use to flash their signals– it’s bioluminescence, and they are neither flies nor bugs, but beetles.
Everyone can see fireworks, but not everyone has fireflies. They live in climates that enjoy hot and humid summers which includes Ohio. Most years they are around in big numbers, especially in the evenings around Independence Day.
There is a purpose to the flashing that takes most of us to youthful years that included chasing the slow-flying fireflies, explained Art Weber, nature photographer for Metroparks Toledo. “Rare is the child who doesn’t find them amazing; equally rare is the youth who realizes that the flashing is a communication between males and females, an invitation to create the next generation of fireflies.”
There is rhyme and reason for the flashing. Ohio has more than a dozen different species and each has its own patterns and length of flashes–the fireflies’ version of Morse code. Those patterns enable male and female fireflies of a species to find each other. Individual species also prefer to fly at different altitudes and emerge at various times. Some start the flash-dance as dusk first settles, others prefer total darkness and a few are night owls and keep flashing after midnight.
To keep it interesting and add the element of danger, the female of one species mimics the females of another. “She is a predator calling in eager unsuspecting males of other species to their deaths. Those females are the sirens of the insect world,” Mr. Weber said, adding, “It’s quite a show and there’s no better time than right now to enjoy it.”
These photographs were captured by Mr. Weber.
