What do Lightning Bugs Eat? Welcoming Fireflies to Your Garden

As a child, I bear in mind the magic of seeing clouds of fireflies on a heat summer time night time. These days, I get excited if I see one or two floating round our yard. Additionally referred to as lightning bugs, these particular little bugs are an vital indicator of environmental well being. And so they’re additionally good for our gardens. So, how does a gardener help them? What do lightning bugs eat? What’s the distinction between lightning bugs and fireflies? What about glow-worms? (Are these even a factor?!) It’s straightforward to seek out complicated or conflicting details about these bioluminescent marvels on-line. On this article, I’m going to share some tips about what these particular creatures have to survive, how we will help maintain them, and why we must always make an effort.

Meet the lightning bug—a.okay.a. the firefly

Earth has greater than 2,000 species of fireflies in all. You’ll discover them practically in all places—aside from the Antarctic. Generally often called lightning bugs or fireflies, these bugs within the Lampyridae household use flashes of sunshine as mating indicators. Fireflies within the genus Photuris and people in Photinus are two widespread varieties.

In fact, there are a lot of extra sorts of fireflies ranging in measurement and that includes completely different flash colours and configurations. Regardless of their variations, they do have one thing in widespread—particularly the mechanism behind their capability to mild themselves up. It’s a little bit sophisticated, however listed here are the fundamentals. Basically, a chemical response takes place inside specialised mild organs inside every insect’s stomach. Among the many chief chemical substances concerned is a molecule often called luciferin, an enzyme referred to as luciferase, oxygen, and adenosine triphosphate (ATP). When mixed, this advanced stew creates the lightning bug’s signature glow.

The place can you discover lightning bugs?

There are fireflies all through Canada, the U.S., and far of the remainder of the world, however firefly species and their concentrations do differ extensively. For instance, in the event you reside within the japanese U.S. you usually tend to encounter overtly flashing lightning bugs—particularly in the course of the extra humid months of June and July. Nevertheless, western states usually tend to have much less conspicuous or non-flashing species.

Fireflies’ life cycle

To reply the query what do lightning bugs eat, it helps to grasp how their life cycles work. Each firefly begins out as a tiny egg. After a couple of weeks, eggs hatch and firefly larvae emerge. Relying on the firefly species and space situations, larval levels can take one or two years to finish. In time, the larvae grow to be pupae—the final cease earlier than maturity. Pupal fireflies can take anyplace from one week to 3 to complete creating wings and different important elements. As soon as this transformation is full, grownup fireflies emerge and reside for simply three or 4 weeks in all.

It’s throughout that prolonged larval stage that fireflies do most of their consuming. (By the way, elements of the wormlike larvae do glow. In consequence, some individuals discuss with larval stage fireflies as glow-worms.)

What do lightning bugs eat as larvae?

Larval stage lightning bugs prey on all types of soft-bodied bugs, in addition to worms, slugs, and snails, amongst different issues. Some lightning bug species spend most of their larval levels burrowed beneath the soil. Many others keep simply above floor, hidden amongst the leaf litter on the soil’s floor.

What do lightning bugs eat as adults?

And what do lightning bugs eat as adults? That’s a trickier query. Technically, most grownup lightning bugs don’t should eat. Throughout this life stage, each male fireflies and females are targeted on mating—not consuming. However, some grownup lightning bug species have been noticed taking in nectar from widespread milkweed crops.

Now for the difficult half. Lightning bugs from the Photuris genus—particularly Photuris females—are femme fatales. These feminine fireflies reply to the mating flashes of males from different lightning bug species. As soon as lured in, the males are attacked and eaten by the females. In consequence, the profitable feminine picks up protecting chemical substances, which she initially lacked, from her unlucky-in-love male meal. These chemical substances assist to make her and her future offspring poisonous to many—however not all—would-be predators. (A choose few birds, toads, and sure lizards, as an illustration, appear to have the ability to eat lightning bugs with no lasting ailing results.)

Why fireflies are nice for the backyard

So, what do lightning bugs eat? In all, it’s a decent record of potential backyard pests, together with aphids, cutworms, cabbage worms, grubs, slugs, and lots of others. Recall that, throughout their relatively prolonged larval stage, lightning bugs are voracious eaters. Primarily, they concentrate on soft-bodied bugs, in addition to slugs and snails.

As a result of some grownup fireflies even have been recognized to work together with nectar and pollen, they could additionally contribute some pollination providers. (To convey extra lightning bugs and different useful bugs to your backyard, take a look at Jess’ e book Attracting Helpful Bugs to Your Backyard.)

Easy methods to assist defend lightning bugs

In the event you’re over the age of, say, 45, you may’ve observed there aren’t as many fireflies round as there as soon as have been. As Fireflies, Glow-worms, and Lightning Bugs creator Lynn Frierson Faust notes, “I’ve witnessed one after one other distinct and spectacular firefly inhabitants disappear attributable to highway widening, to subdivision improvement, to highschool lights that we will see from our farm over a mile away, to householders who burn floodlights all night time lengthy, to overzealous garden warriors with their arsenals of poisons… [Multiple] elements have mixed to make it tougher for fireflies to reside, thrive, and discover a mate in right now’s world.”

Wish to assist these beleaguered beetles? Right here’s how:

Forego pesticides: Pesticide use is a non-starter since larval lightning bugs spend a yr or extra within the soil earlier than lastly rising as grownup fireflies.
Go darkish: Scale back mild air pollution within the space by eliminating all superfluous nighttime lighting. (Including blackout curtains inside your house additionally will help hold your indoor synthetic lighting from leaking out into the night time.)
Make beetle habitats: Fight habitat loss by permitting some leaf litter to construct up, planting a greater variety of native flowering crops, and constructing in some soggy patches the place feminine fireflies can lay eggs.
Allow them to fly: Maintaining fireflies captive in a jar topped with a hole-punched lid could also be tempting, however, today, it’s finest to admire fireflies from a distance.
Change into a citizen scientist: Whether or not you do (or don’t!) see fireflies in your space, report your observations to Firefly Atlas. The citizen science mission collects knowledge researchers can use to watch completely different firefly species’ inhabitants numbers, adjustments of their geographic ranges, their reactions to local weather change, and extra.

Extra details about attracting useful bugs to your gard