menu Home chevron_right
PETS & ANIMALS

True Facts: Where Have All The Fireflies Gone!

Ze Frank | December 23, 2025



Donate here: https://xerces.org/savefireflies
The Xerces Society Website: https://xerces.org/
Firefly Atlas: https://www.fireflyatlas.org/

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/truefacts

Thank you:
Get To Know Nature https://www.youtube.com/@UCRY_koaderLMa-I_lRg9Zkg
Danae Wolfe https://www.chasingbugs.com/my-story/
Dr. Adrian Smith https://www.youtube.com/@UCWxiO_Br1awgEjy79VItspQ
https://www.flickr.com/photos/katunchik/
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Firefly_larva_feeding_on_snail_by_Raju_Kasambe_DSCN4504_%281%29_03.jpg
Candace Fallon: https://www.xerces.org/staff/candace-fallon
Orit Peleg: https://www.peleglab.com/

Barber, Herbert Spencer. 1951. “North American fireflies of the genus Photuris.” Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, 117, (1) 1–58.

Martin, O., Nguyen, C., Sarfati, R. et al. Embracing firefly flash pattern variability with data-driven species classification. Sci Rep 14, 3432 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-53671-3

Sarfati R, Hayes JC, Sarfati É, Peleg O. Spatio-temporal reconstruction of emergent flash synchronization in firefly swarms via stereoscopic 360-degree cameras. J R Soc Interface. 2020 Sep;17(170):20200179. doi: 10.1098/rsif.2020.0179. Epub 2020 Sep 23. PMID: 32961095; PMCID: PMC7536049.

Sarfati R, Hayes JC, Peleg O. Self-organization in natural swarms of Photinus carolinus synchronous fireflies. Sci Adv. 2021 Jul 7;7(28):eabg9259. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abg9259. PMID: 34233879; PMCID: PMC8262802.

P. Cinzano, F. Falchi, C.D. Elvidge, The first World Atlas of the artificial night sky brightness, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 328, Issue 3, December 2001, Pages 689–707, https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-8711.2001.04882.x

Written by Ze Frank

Comments

This post currently has 47 comments.

  3. @bubblechap3005

    December 23, 2025 at 8:33 am

    I live in IL. For the longest time, I would go on this trail around my church and see dozens of fireflies. These recent years I can't say the same anymore.

    I see maybe one or two now.

    It's sad, knowing that at one point I might not get to see the little glowing buddies anymore.

    People are building so many things around here, suburbs are developing into cities and all people seem to care about is money.

    I know I'm kind of spiraling off topic, but all of this is leading to why the fireflies are dying. I wish we could keep things simple, but I have a feeling that at one point, all sorts of animals are going to go extinct, and cloning is going to be the new McDonald's.

  5. @amandashatto1777

    December 23, 2025 at 8:33 am

    I live out in the country in Indiana and honestly I had noticed but I had just brushed it off to the fact that I'm not out at dark very often anymore and I don't have littles chasing them anymore

  6. @KerianHalcyon

    December 23, 2025 at 8:33 am

    To be fair light pollution in general is a problem and annoying. It'd be great if my local walmart's parking lot lights weren't these massive high-beam LEDs that shine like it's daylight 24/7 just because they're open for hours on end.

    We've allegedly had an Aurora go over my state recently – I say allegedly, because I couldn't see jack, and what I could see I wasn't able to tell if it was light pollution coming from the next town over or not.

  7. @ohdrinkycrow1775

    December 23, 2025 at 8:33 am

    Nothing to do with the artificial light, its because the invasion of the asian ladybug (Harmonia axyridis) – same thing and timing that killed off the ladybug(Coccinella septempunctata) population, the asian ladybug destroyed the ecosystem and breeding of ladybugs and lightning bugs(Photinus pyralis). Diversity destroys ecosystems in all species

  14. @InuyouX7

    December 23, 2025 at 8:33 am

    There's less life in general. You can thank the WEF , their slave corporations and our sellout governments for destroying life ALL OVER THE WORLD

  15. @katie7647

    December 23, 2025 at 8:33 am

    First time I saw one firefly was in Sri Lanka a few years ago on holiday I was mesmerised, I’d never seen one before as I’m from Great Britain, it was absolutely amazing. ❤

  21. @danpokojski143

    December 23, 2025 at 8:33 am

    I still see them! Definitely seems to be a change from when I was young. But lets keep that in context. Is ANYTHING the same as it was decades ago? Our world is constantly changing for a multitude of reasons. Sucks, being surrounded by fireflies in the late evening to the point it looked like some kind of fairytail movie seems to be passing. But if you are observant over your lifetime you will realize everything is passing.

  22. @KasumiRose77

    December 23, 2025 at 8:33 am

    I refuse to fertilize my yard with commercial fertilizers and I avoid cutting my lawn those 3 weeks. Never had a shortage in my yard. All other houses in my neighborhood have short green grass and no fireflies.

  29. @m.newman7722

    December 23, 2025 at 8:33 am

    In the 1950's in Southern California, fireflies were seen often in the San Fernando Valley. I have not seen a firefly in more than 50+ years here. I had often wondered what happened, but then, in the 1950's my friends and I would camp out in our front yards at times, and be able to see the sky loaded with stars. Now, not for a long time. The stars must have died along with the fireflies.

  34. @annieherrera4694

    December 23, 2025 at 8:33 am

    Us kids used to squash them on our arms for body glow. I'm sure the decline would be even more precipitous were it not for kids retreating indoors to play video games. Everything has a silver lining? Thank you and Xerces for your conservation efforts!

  36. @broadcastbard

    December 23, 2025 at 8:33 am

    I let my yard go native, lightly curated, and have more fireflies each year. I let the leaves stay, encourage non-grass ground covers, have lots of raspberries and other big plants. The diversity of life has exploded.

  38. @Esplandia

    December 23, 2025 at 8:33 am

    I live in Brooklyn and have a small yard I’ve let go wild (mostly) and I now get so many fireflies that people bring their kids in the evening to look at them in my yard 😊

  41. @matthewbittenbender9191

    December 23, 2025 at 8:33 am

    And I lived on a farm a couple years back, I happened to see faint lights in the grass that would fade very slowly. I grabbed a few and turned out to be firefly larvae tho I didn't know it at the time. No one on SM knew what they were either and was before the identifier apps today. While I suspected it was Firefly larvae, I wasn't sure until now.

Comments are closed.

Related
True Facts: Flowers That Screw Flies
Ze Frank | September 5, 2026
Related
Comparison of young and adult cougar in northern Minnesota
Voyageurs Wolf Project | September 5, 2026
Related
“The Axis of Evil”: The Universe’s Unexplained ...
NOVA PBS Official | September 5, 2026

This area can contain widgets, menus, shortcodes and custom content. You can manage it from the Customizer, in the Second layer section.

 

 

 

Go to album
  • play_circle_filled

    92.9 : The Torch

  • play_circle_filled

    AGGRO
    'Til Deaf Do Us Part...

  • play_circle_filled

    SLACK!
    The Music That Made Gen-X

  • play_circle_filled

    KUDZU
    The Northwoods' Alt-Country & Americana

  • play_circle_filled

    BOOZHOO
    Indigenous Radio

  • play_circle_filled

    THE FLOW
    The Northwoods' Hip Hop and R&B

play_arrow skip_previous skip_next volume_down
playlist_play