Foo - I've never seen a firefly.

I'd like to at some point.

Come to Texas during the summer and you can see tons. They are fun to catch in a jar. My boys love to catch them.

We practice catch and release and try not to harm any fireflys.

You can crash on the top bunk if you want. Bring your shoes, pedals and helmet. I have a 56 or 58 you can ride.

Got them here. Was yelled at as a kid when I had some friends over (I was in grade school) and we had caught a LOT of them and put them in a jar .... and let them go in the basement where we had our sleeping bags laid out. We had our own glowing stars. :)

Down here you don't see them near cities. Mosquito abatement programs are rather hard on them. They are everywhere out in the country tho...

see 'em here every year. have various scars from running into things at night trying to catch them:rolleyes:

I'm not sure my daughter has ever seen one, but my son used to chase them all through the field across the street from the house we had at the time. We moved from mid-Atlantic to PNW w/ daughter in utero though.

Gazillions here. Ours are green btw.

We still have them in the South, all be it in much smaller numbers than we used to, and we call them lighting bugs. I blame the fire ants.

There are some mangrove islands in SE Asia that have lighting bugs that all flash in unison. The local fishermen can use them as navigation beacons because the populations of bugs on the individual islands have evolved distinct flashing sequences.

We still have them in the South, all be it in much smaller numbers than we used to, and we call them lighting bugs. I blame the fire ants.

Generalized development too. Where we lived in WV we had a really depressing lack of 17 yr locusts because all the larvae had been dug up w/ their fields over the previous X yrs. Fireflies are susceptible to the same habitat (field) loss/disturbance, though they can repopulate quicker than locusts (if there is still a source population in range, that is)

We used to have tons of them as kids. Either I don't notice them anymore or they are gone. We used to fill a jar with a bunch to make a lamp as kids. Thats with holes in the top of course. I wasn't that sadistic. Yet...

I don't recall ever seeing one before I moved to Pennsylvania...

By the way, according to Wikipedia, The Pennsylvania Firefly is our state insect:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photuris_pennsylvanica

http://img395.imageshack.us/img395/4756/ffserenitygg3.jpg

There you go.

x beat me to it...

We still have them in the South, all be it in much smaller numbers than we used to, and we call them lighting bugs. I blame the fire ants.



As well you should!

In Portuguese they are called vagalume (wandering lights). There's something about the term that I really like.

The only fireflies I've seen in SoCal were in the Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland.

I never saw them until the second time we went to Costa Rica. You can come visit us down there and see them. :)

We have tons of them in Philly- yes, in the city. They peak right around July 4th (appropriate, eh?), and always add lots of joy to evening rides through Fairmount Park or along the river drives. They're usually some shade of green, but it's not hard to find blue ones too.

We call them lighting bugs in NY..

We call them lighting bugs in NY..

No doubt because your species farts loudly. :p

No doubt because your species farts loudly. :p

I do have a ruff case of gas at the moment..

Plenty of lightning bugs down here by Sugar Creek.

They're especially cool when you hit one on the windshield at night.

an excellent source of dietary phosphorus.:thumb:

an excellent source of dietary farts for us.:thumb:

Farted it for you

They're especially cool when you hit one on the windshield at night.

Try hitting one with your glasses while riding your bike. They really are bright up close.

Fireflies have heavy karma. Me and a friend used to love to hit them with baseball bats when we were little. I walked up behind my friend thinking he'd heard me say his name, and whack I got nailed right on the noggin and had to go to the hospital. My mom was able to hear it inside the house over the sound of the TV, said it sounded like a home run. I've never hurt one since.

Man your missin out! Fireflies are one one of my favorite aspects of summer. We used to call them lightning bugs when we were little....

I haven't seen one since I was a kid ... 30ish years ago. Chemical spraying is ruining many of the natural wonders of our world.

I see them occasionally on my property, but not very often.

MadeInItaly could tell you about the ones in Bellagio, Italy.

By the Ottawa River, there were tons when we camped on our white water rafting weekend. We woke the kids up when we saw them in the woods, the kids being fairly young thought it was absolutely magical.

I used to see them all the time as a kid. With all the insectacides being used in the neighborhood they went away and I hadn't seen any in years. last summer I visited some friends in another city and they had a backyard full of them. It brought a tear to my eye to see them again.:)
Ernest

I've seen their close relatives, the barflies.

http://img395.imageshack.us/img395/4756/ffserenitygg3.jpg

There you go.

And that's the only Firefly you need to know about. :thumb:

And that's the only Firefly you need to know about. :thumb:Well, there is this one, too...

http://www.dirtyharrysplace.com/dailyheadlines/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/groucho1.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_Soup

Well, there is this one, too...Unlike the other two, I don't think Rufus' butt glowed.

I don't recall ever seeing one before I moved to Pennsylvania...

By the way, according to Wikipedia, The Pennsylvania Firefly is our state insect:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photuris_pennsylvanica

Strangely, me too. Huh.