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Take it Outside is an initiative led by Governor John E. Baldacci to encourage Maine's children and families to reconnect with nature. Take it Outside! is your one-stop shopping information source for year-round outdoor recreation opportunities in Maine. Here you will find everything you need to Take it Outside! and have fun in the great Maine outdoors.
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Bugs are Lighting up the Night
In Maine fireflies, or lightning bugs, start showing up in June and can be found through July. They are most often found near woods or streams or ponds; flashing across fields looking for a mate. Seeing as there are lots of woods and streams and ponds, fireflies are pretty easy to find. There are at least 17 different species of fireflies that can be found in Maine.
Fireflies are really adult beetles in the family LAMPyridae. The larvae feed on slugs, snails and earthworms during the summer. These immature fireflies then overwinter in the soil or under bark on trees. In the spring they emerge, continue feeding then pupate and turn into adult beetles. The adults flash their “taillights” to find mates. Each species has different flash pattern and some species can be determined only by their flash patterns as their physical appearance (to us) is so similar.
Most adults are not known to eat anything, although they probably feed on nectar to keep their energy up. There is one species in Maine where the adult females are prey on other fireflies. They mimic the flashes of other species, lure the males in and then eat them. There are also species that do not flash at all and they are active during the day as opposed to the evening like the flashing fireflies.
The light produced by the fireflies is called bioluminescence. It is a chemical reaction between the chemical luciferin, the enzyme luciferinase and oxygen. This cold light is very energy efficient – 100% of the energy in the reaction is turned into light (about 10% of incandescent lights are turned into light, the rest is given off in heat). The flashes are controlled by the amount of oxygen that gets to the cells producing the light.
In many species the females are flightless and look very similar to the larvae. Both these wingless adults and most larvae are also luminescent and are called glowworms.
Special thanks to Charlene Donahue, Forest Entomologist with the Maine Forest Service, for providing this article and pictures