By Richard Joyce, Endangered Species Conservation Biologist
By the Numbers
Firefly Atlas grew by leaps and bounds this year, as community scientists and agency biologists across North America dove into making firefly observations and conducting surveys. Check out some of the Firefly Atlas’s 2024 statistics below!
Notable Findings
Firefly Atlas participants made important and fascinating discoveries left and right! From threatened focal species to lesser-known Data Deficient species, Firefly Atlas observations advanced our knowledge of North American fireflies and our ability to effectively protect them.
Filling in the range map for Florida intertidal fireflies
The Florida intertidal firefly (Micronaspis floridana) is a mangrove and salt marsh specialist that is imperiled by threats such as sea level rise, pesticides, habitat loss, and light pollution. While we have a general understanding of its distribution in the state, mapping the current populations is crucial for effectively protecting the species. In May, a group of surveyors successfully documented Florida intertidal fireflies at John R. Bonner Park, a property on Florida’s Gulf Coast that is managed by Pinellas County.
On the other side of the peninsula, a Firefly Atlas firefly blitz at the Marine Discovery Center in New Smyrna Beach led to the discovery of the northernmost known site for the Florida intertidal firefly. This area (the Mosquito Lagoon) is where mangroves begin to lose dominance to salt marsh, perhaps correlating with the climate conditions that support the firefly species.
Noticing the overlooked: tropic traveler firefly in Florida
Staff, visitors, and volunteers at Blue Spring State Park in central Florida have known for years that lightning bugs (specifically Photuris congener, also known as Florida single snappies) put on an impressive show in the forest understory in March and April , but they are just beginning to catalog the other firefly species found in the park. One such species is the tropic traveler (Tenaspis angularis), which was spotted at the park in August. This large diurnal species is so poorly known that biologists used to believe that individuals were being blown to the southern US by hurricanes. (We now know populations to be resident, but we still know very little about their habitat needs or larval life stage).
A loopy lightshow at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia
An intrepid team from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Wildlife searched the Georgia Piedmont for endangered loopy five fireflies (Photuris forresti) in May and June, and at the State Botanical Garden they found them bobbing over a marshy wetland (read more about this story on the Botanical Garden blog). A boardwalk through the wetland provides excellent, low impact access for future study and enjoyment of this unique and rare species.
Flightless female of a Near Threatened firefly in Texas
The “Glow Patrol Firefly Research Team” in southeast Texas expanded their efforts beyond the Armand Bayou Nature Center, and at Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, they came across a flightless female of the two-step flasher firefly (Photinus dimissus). This species is assessed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species due to its limited range and declines in its riparian habitats. One of the things that makes it vulnerable is that the females cannot fly, limiting their ability to disperse to new habitats. Look at those tiny wing covers!
Two-for-one firefly sites in Arizona
Firefly research in Arizona is distinctive in that most locations with flashing firefly species have just one known species. This season, surveyors learned that a few sites in Santa Cruz County and Cochise County support both southwest spring fireflies (Bicellonycha wickershamorum) and southwest synchronous fireflies (Photinus knulli). Do these species overlap in other areas as well? We’ll have to find out next year!
Progress for protecting fireflies
The US Fish and Wildlife Service announced two encouraging decisions for imperiled firefly species this year. First, the Service proposed to list the Bethany Beach firefly (Photuris bethaniensis) as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act, which would make it the first firefly species to receive federal legal protections. Second, the Service announced a positive 90-day finding on the petition to list the Florida intertidal firefly (Micronaspis floridana), meaning that listing will be given serious consideration and the firefly will undergo a species status assessment, a key step in the listing decision process.
Thank you for making 2024 a success!
We are so grateful to all the people who contributed their time, enthusiasm, curiosity, and expertise to the Firefly Atlas this year. The list is too long to thank folks individually, but includes land managers who facilitated surveys, local experts who accompanied Xerces staff in the field, and Firefly Atlas participants who dedicated many hours to nighttime surveys and data entry. A special thanks to the BAND Foundation for their ongoing financial support of the Firefly Atlas.
