so I promised to make a blog post on them.
1.) Fireflies or lightning bugs are actually called "Lampyridae"
2.) The light from fireflies is sometimes called a "cold light" meaning that it's light doesn't haved any infrared or ultraviolet frequencies, which means that there is no heat
3.) There are over 2,000 species of fireflies
4.) You can find most in temeperate/tropical climates such as a marsh or wooded area
5.) Firefly babies, or "larvae" slighly glow
6.) A few days after mating, the female lays her eggs, which hatch 3-4 weeks later
7.) During winter the little hatched worms hibernate
* They hatch in spring
* They eat for deveral weeks and then "pupate" (sort of like a catepillar)
* After 1 to 2 1/2 weeks, they emerge as adults, or the little flying bugs you may see from time to time.....
8.) The light you see is produced by a chemical reaction called "bioluminescence"
* A firefly controls it's light by adding oxygen, when there is oxygen it lights up, when there is no more oxygen it goes out
* Scientists weren't at first sure why firefly lights are so quick, because firefly muscles are really slow. They found out that there is a presence of nitric oxide. Nitric Oxide makes the oxygen flow faster.
9.) Many fireflies don't produce light.
Real bubble burster, right?
These are usually called "diurnal" or day-flying.
10.) Fireflies are unpalatable. In other words, gross-tasting.
* Firefly larvae worms are nice enought to prodeuce light to say."Hey, I'm gross. Don't eat me"
* Adult males light up with certain patterns. These patterns attract females.
* In at least 2 species, scientists have observed that female fireflies prefer higher flash rates.
~ZABC*A~
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-and-why-do-fireflies
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