Fireflies!

Are fireflies Flies, Bugs, or Beetles?


This is from a library book we got last week called "Ladybugs and Other Beetles":

"Fireflies are not really flies. Some people call them lightning bugs, but they are not bugs either. Fireflies are actually beetles. Some firefly larvae can glow, too. This is why people call them glowworms. Of course, they are not worms at all."


So, fireflies are not flies, lightning bugs are not bugs, glowworms are not worms!


Glowworms are baby fireflies (even though there are other types of glowworms that don't come from fireflies).


I knew this before, without really ever thinking about it, but to see it in writing was amusing for me.



One of the things I've missed from being away from the east coast are these delightful little critters. They are something a person could take for granted, until you don't get them anymore. When we travelled across the country in 1999, we brought a couple back from Kansas in a large jar. We put lace over the top and put some greens in the jar, but they kept escaping. At night, we'd be sitting in the living room with the lights down, only to see this little glow travel slowly across the room. Of course, I felt bad knowing they couldn't survive long in NM, but they were nice to have for the week, anyway.



When we were trying to figure out if we wanted to relocate from the peaceful and laid-back southwest back to the east coast, we made a list of "reasons to stay in NM" and "reasons to move east". On that list for reasons to move were, you guessed it, Lightning Bugs! Fireflies!



Imagine my surprise when my Mom sent me two signs, in the form of a lightning bug, when we returned home last summer to make arrangements for her funeral. We were staying in the basement apartment at a friend's house, tucked quietly back in the woods. Even the phone reception was quiet. I couldn't sleep, so I stayed up all night writing the first draft of her eulogy. Suddenly, somewhere in the middle of the night between 2 and maybe 3 am, I saw a lightning bug light up on the window of the sliding glass doors that were directly in front of me about 4 feet away! Now, these creatures are usually high in the trees and not glowing anymore after about 11 PM. I just looked at it and it made me cry. Then, two days later, the night before the funeral, I stayed up late to wash clothes and get our belongings gathered and packed up so we could move to our next destination after the funeral. There I was folding clothes, having been moving about the room for a couple hours already, and trying to get my thoughts together. Suddenly, there was this little lightning bug that went flying slowly across the room, fully lit up for my pleasure. Again, it was in the wee hours of the night. I have to say, in all our years living "down county" I never once experienced a lightning bug inside of a house, unless one of us kids deliberatly brought it into the house. It just never happened. I know it was a sign of comfort from my Mom!


So, here we are preparing to move back closer to our roots, and we end up reading about lightning books in one of the beetle books my son picked out at the library. They really are amazing beetles, one of my favorite of all time! Here's some more information on them, for anyone interested: Firefly FAQs. The pictures contained here are borrowed from online educational sites.


Cheers to natural country beauty!