Diario del proyecto Firefly Blitz 2024

Diurnal fireflies just don't get the same level of attention as their flashy cousins! The 2020 IUCN Red List assessments for the US and Canada found that 20 of the region's 31 day-active, non-bioluminescent firefly species were Data-Deficient, meaning that there is great uncertainty about their conservation status.

The Pacific Northwest is a hotspot of sorts for data-deficient diurnal fireflies, which likely comes as a surprise to folks who are unaware of the region having any fireflies at all. This regional Firefly Blitz challenge focuses on diurnal firefly species in southwest Oregon that have not been documented in many decades.

Can we find these rare diurnal fireflies?

Ellychnia obscurevittata

This species is only known from the place it was first collected, the mountains of Klamath County.

Photo of the Ellychnia obscurevittata holotype specimen, courtesy of the California Academy of Sciences.

Ellychnia granulicollis

This species is known from Fort Klamath, Klamath Falls, and Upper Klamath Lake in Klamath County, Oregon.

Photo of the Ellychnia granulicollis holotype specimen, courtesy of the California Academy of Sciences.

How to identify these species

The Oregon-based entomologist Kenneth Fender wrote a guide to Ellychnia of Western North America (Coleoptera: Lampyridae) that is currently the best reference resource for identification.

Additionally, @ronlyons has become a regional expert on Western diurnal fireflies and is the top identifier for these taxa.

Report non-detection data to the Firefly Atlas

If you survey for these species, enter survey effort data through the Firefly Atlas.

Explore diurnal firefly observations in the area

Check out the observations of diurnal fireflies in southern Oregon and Northern California so far this year.

April was the beginning of firefly season in much of the country, with Spring Tree-top Flashers pupating and beginning to display further and further north. It was also a big month for flashing fireflies in Florida and Texas. And of course, winter fireflies were out in abundance!

Check out a few of the cool sightings from last month.

@mpmoskwik thoroughly documented marsh flicker (Pyractomena dispersa) fireflies over a hay field in North Carolina.

A female Florida single snappy (Photuris congener observed by @dasyatissadie on the Florida panhandle. Finding females in this group of Photuris is not common! You can tell it's a female by the split lantern. Gives the impression of a glowing sad face!

Unlike most firefly species, Pleotomodes glow-worms like areas with dry, sandy soil. The IUCN Endangered Pleotomodes needhami is associated with ant nests on the Lake Wales Ridge in Florida, but this observation was made by @richardmonteverdense (yours truly) on the coast during a Firefly Atlas survey and is most likely Pleotomodes knulli.

On the other side of the country, @nick_barba found the adult female of another species of glow-worm, the California pink glow-worm. Don't let anyone tell you there aren't Lampyrids on the west coast!

Thanks for checking out and joining the Firefly Blitz 2024 project!

Why create a new iNaturalist project for fireflies in the United States?

After all, there is already the Fireflies of the USA and Canada project, the Mass Audubon Firefly Watch project, and the more regional Fireflies of the Midwest project.

These projects have filtered lightning bug observations after the fact, but didn't actively foster a sense of community or connect fireflyers with feedback or resources that could improve the quality and value of their observations. Surveying for, documenting, and identifying firefly species can be a daunting task, and have more success if we pool our knowledge and learn from each other. Time windows for finding adult fireflies of a given species can also be so short, so it helps to have reminders of which species to look out for when, and what habitats to be checking.

The Firefly Blitz 2024 is intended to compliment the Xerces Society's Firefly Atlas, which provides more detailed survey protocols, data- sheets, information on focal species of conservation concern, and a data submission portal. Unlike iNaturalist, the Firefly Atlas collect absence (non-detection) data and effort information. While cross-posting can sometimes create confusion by creating duplicate records, we encourage folks to use both iNaturalist and Firefly Atlas-- just make a note of the cross-posting.

Ready to step up your fireflying/lightning bugging?

Try to do the following things when observing fireflies:

• Take a photo of underside (use a clear container or plastic bag).
• Use a ruler or the Firefly Atlas data-sheet to show the length of the lightning bug (mm are best).
• Add some habitat notes, beyond what someone might glean from satellite view on the map.
• Tell us the air temperature, even if it's approximate

For flashing fireflies:

• Note whether the flashes are repeated in basic units of 1, 2, or 3-9 flashes
• Note the time intervals at which flash patterns are repeated and the spacing of flashes within multi-flash flash patterns
• Tell us when the flashing occurred in relation to sunset

Doing these things will improve the chances of being able to identify the firefly to species and will make your observations more useful to others!