Fireflies, sometimes called lightning bugs, can often be seen glowing by the
hundreds in grassy fields on summer evenings. Most species feed on pollen,
and glow various shades of yellow. Though rare, there are also blue and
green fireflies. I learned about the green ones (called Photuris Fireflies) firsthand after an interesting experience I had as a kid. Turns out they are carnivorous, and eat other fireflies. Every time my family would go camping, my brothers and I would love to catch fireflies in the evenings and let them crawl on our hands for a bit before they flew off again. I live and had done most of my camping north of the range of the Photuris Firefly, and so didn’t know of it’s existence. My family went camping down south one year, and seeing hundreds of fireflies, we began to catch fireflies. We were having a blast. Suddenly I spotted a bright green firefly. I was amazed. Instinctively I grabbed it, shouting “look mom! a green firefly!” Suddenly it bit me, it didn’t hurt so much as it startled me. I wondered whether the creature I had just seen was actually a firefly, so I looked it up and learned there was so much more to these creatures than just glowing in the dark. So remember, if you go catching fireflies, yellow is a friendly fellow. That’s why I chose them for this book.
Cites:
My Favorite Animals ABC 