Warm summer night skies often sparkle as fireflies flash and twinkle across the firmament. Called lightning bugs by many people, fireflies, are actually winged beetles. They have an organ in their ...

It’s not easy counting fireflies. Across North America, there are an estimated 170 fireflies species, which are technically beetles in the order Coleoptera, but inventorying them is a challenge. While ...

These light-up insects put on the most magical show of the summer.

Memorial Day might mark the unofficial start of summer, but it isn’t real for me until I see groups of fireflies or lightning bugs. As a kid, chasing the gentle glowing bugs flying in seemingly random ...

After placing the captive firefly in a plastic bag, wildlife biologist Jason Davis tried to confirm its identity as a member of the rare photuris bethaniensis species. (Kimberly Paynter/WHYY) This ...

It’s the last day of June and I’m standing under the overhang on my back deck protected from the last drips of a rainstorm. It’s past nine o’clock but not quite dark yet. But the yard is starting to ...

You’ve probably seen or heard at least once in your lifetime about fireflies – the famous light-emitting insects! They form the Lampyridae family and are sometimes called glowworms or lightning bugs.

Even though insects are often called bugs, and though this less-than-flattering term is rightly applied to only one group of insects, it is often used to include all those with six legs and connotes ...

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — As Independence Day fireworks settles down, Mother Nature’s own light show will continue on through the summer. We’re talking of course about the abundance of fireflies often ...

Tiny vibrant lights twinkle near the trees before vanishing. A few seconds later a long, steady glow floats by with a consistent blinking not too far away – secret messages that have enchanted people ...