It’s an age-old debate that divides families, friends, states and nations: Lightning bugs or fireflies? You chased them as a kid, captured them in your hands. Maybe even put them in jars for an hour ...

It's a right of passage in Iowa: Stepping out into your backyard to see fireflies lighting up the night sky. There are more than 170 species of glowing insects known as Lampyridae in North America.

MISSOURI, USA — Lights in the Midwest's summer nights have grown dimmer over the past decades. The glowing flicks of fireflies, or lightning bugs, trigger nostalgia and deeply held childhood memories ...

It’s not easy counting fireflies. Across North America, there are an estimated 170 fireflies species, which are technically beetles in the order Coleoptera, but inventorying them is a challenge. While ...

No doubt over the years you’ve spotted a few fireflies lighting up your backyard. Or seen a swarm of them, sometimes called a “sparkle,” on your way back from a walk in the woods. Fireflies — or ...

KELLETTVILLE, Pa. ― Every year in late June, Peggy Butler and her husband, Ken, welcome visitors to rural northwestern Pennsylvania for the chance to glimpse the rare and beguiling Photinus carolinus.

It looks like a scene from a fairytale. Over the past few decades, firefly population have been declining due to factors like light pollution, pesticides, and habitat loss. Now there's a ray of hope: ...

You may have collected them in a glass jar when you were little. Or inadvertently saw one blinking its bright little light across the summer sky as an adult. People in New Jersey are no strangers to ...

From bears and bobcats to eagles and elk, 22,893 species have been documented so far in Great Smoky Mountains National Park — and nearly half of them are insects. Becky Nichols, the park’s long-time ...

Chasing lightning bugs on a summer night is a rite of passage for many youngsters. You know how it goes, pursuing the flickering lights across the dusk sky until you clap your hands in a sphere around ...

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Sometimes the buzz may be so loud, it’s hard to hear the person next to you but to Eric Sazama, the sound of cicadas is not annoying. “I love the sound. As soon as I hear ...