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Sticker of Synchronous firefly
Bug card No. 1325 of 1,500

Synchronous firefly

Photinus carolinus
Name means: “carolinus means from Carolina, because it was first found in North Carolina”
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsBeetlesForests and woods6 legs

The synchronous firefly is a beetle with a glowing light in its tail. In early summer, lots of males flash their lights at the same time, so the whole forest blinks on and off together. People travel from far away to see this magical show.

Lives in
Mountain forests in the eastern United States, especially the Great Smoky Mountains
Length
1.1 to 1.5 cm (0.43 to 0.59 in)
Top speed
about 3.4 km/h (2.1 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It does not bite or sting. Just watch the light show.
What does it eat?
Its larvae live in the soil and eat snails, worms and other soft little animals.
For real!Photo of Synchronous firefly
Picture by Firefly Photos by Radim Schreiber ; FireflyExperience.org. CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Synchronous firefly about 1.5 cm long (0.59 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)
as long as 2.5 grains of rice in a rowcould fly across a whole football pitch in 110 secondsmoves 63 times its own body length every second

How big is Synchronous firefly compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

A male flashes 4 to 8 bright flashes in a few seconds, then stays dark for about 8 to 12 seconds.

2

The female answers with a softer light during the dark time, so the males can spot her.

3

It was the first firefly in North America found to flash all together in time.

4

Even its larvae can glow.

5

It spends most of its life as a larva and only flies as a grown-up for a few weeks in late May and June.

you asked

Most asked questions about Synchronous firefly

?When can you see the synchronous fireflies?

Usually in early June, in the Great Smoky Mountains in the United States.

?Why do the fireflies flash at the same time?

Scientists think it makes a shared dark moment, when the males can easily see the females answering.

?How big is a synchronous firefly?

About 11 to 15 millimetres long.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Photinus carolinus
Group
Beetles
Family
Lampyridae
Classification
Insecta > Coleoptera > Lampyridae
Lives on
North America
Also known as
Smokies synchronous firefly

Where the facts come from

  1. Photinus carolinus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Firefly Photos by Radim Schreiber ; FireflyExperience.org. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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