Arkansas Backstories

Lightning Bugs

By Joe David Rice

Icannot imagine a world without lightning bugs (or fireflies for some readers). A summer lacking these little creatures would be like a summer without lemonade, watermelons or homemade ice cream. But recent reports indicate these specially equipped beetles are in trouble.

One problem is familiar: loss of habitat. The larvae of lightning bugs require rotting logs and limbs and forest litter near standing water of some sort to thrive. With urban growth and development, many of the breeding sites preferred by these beetles are disappearing.

Another problem, although not yet well understood by scientists, is light pollution. Lightning bugs use their flashing illumination as signals – to attract mates, defend territories and discourage predators. Artificial lighting can seriously interfere with these eons-old communications. Observers have determined, for instance, that automobile headlights sweeping over a field will disrupt the flashing routine of lightning bugs. In short, the steady loss of our night skies is making interactions between male and female fireflies more difficult, leading to fewer larvae every year.

About 2,000 species of fireflies exist across the globe and can be found on every continent with the exception of Antarctica. Strangely enough, they’re rarely seen west of the Rockies in this country. Favoring warm, moist environments, lightning bugs have been mesmerizing Arkansans on summer evenings for generations. We seem to still have a good supply of them, although I’m pretty sure I saw more during my youth than I do these days. My friends and I would carefully catch the lightning bugs in our hands and place them in Mason jars, giving us each our own little glass lantern.

Lightning bugs have an interesting life cycle. After mating, females deposit their fertilized eggs on the ground or just below its surface. Hatching three to four weeks later, the larvae feed until summer’s end and then hibernate through the winter, some beneath the bark of trees and others underground. They reappear in the spring and eat for several weeks, primarily consuming other larvae, land snails, worms and slugs. They then pupate for 7 to 15 days before emerging as adult lightning bugs. The adult diet remains largely unknown, and there’s some speculation that their lives are so short they really don’t eat much of anything.

As for that magical flashing light, it’s caused by a chemical reaction known as bioluminescence. Specialized light-emitting organs on the lower abdomens of lightning bugs produce a “cold light” – which has been said to be the most efficient light in the world since none of the energy is wasted as heat. The process is too complicated for me to understand, much less explain. Let’s just say it involves oxygen, calcium, an enzyme and several chemicals with very long names.

As individuals, we can do several things to help ensure lightning bugs are welcome in our towns. We can be less tidy around neighborhood creeks, allowing downed limbs and branches and leaf litter to accumulate and provide habitat for these tiny creatures. We can provide water features in our yards, which will attract lightning bugs. We can include taller grasses – such as pink muhly grass and zebra grass – in our landscaping and also such plants as caraway, coriander and Queen Anne’s lace, all of which appeal to fireflies. We can minimize the application of pesticides. And we can reduce our use of exterior lighting.

I’m making a few changes in support of lightning bugs – and I hope you will, too.

Joe David Rice, former tourism director of Arkansas Parks and Tourism, has written Arkansas Backstories, a delightful book of short stories from A through Z that introduces readers to the state's lesser-known aspects. Rice's goal is to help readers acknowledge that Arkansas is a unique and fascinating combination of land and people – one to be proud of and one certainly worth sharing.

Each month, AY will share one of the 165 distinctive essays. We hope these stories will give you a new appreciation for this geographically compact but delightfully complex place we call home. These Arkansas Backstories columns appear courtesy of the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies at the Central Arkansas Library System. The essays have been collected and published by Butler Center Books in a two-volume set, both of which are now available to purchase at Amazon and the University of Arkansas Press.