True?
Some lightning bugs/fireflies are found west of the Mississippi, but the ones that flash are rare west of Kansas. (Most members of the family in the West do not light up, but a few do.) This shows some maps of firefly sightings in the US.
Wait, lightning bugs that don’t light up? If that’s where the cladistic classification leads us, then I think it’s probably best to just not insist that “lightning bugs” be a clade.
We certainly had them growing up in Kansas City, Missouri.
And they’re still here.
We had them in East Texas, too.
Got 'em in Texas.
ETA: or, what he said. had them in West Texas growing up, too.
So,are there other examples of species that exist mainly East of the Rockies?
Hellman’s mayonnaise.
But beyond that, sure. There are a bunch of species that stop at the Rockies. The first one that comes to mind is the deer tick, which is the main tick species that spreads Lyme Disease in the eastern US. (Lyme disease on the west coast is spread by another tick.) But there are a lot of species. The Blue Jay. The Northern Cardinal. The Eastern Spotted Skunk. The sugar maple. Etc.
Plenty of pretty glowing fireflies in Iowa and also here in eastern Nebraska (at least in the areas which aren’t bombarded by garden sprays).
We definitely had them in NE Arkansas.
But we were right on the Mississippi, so maybe that doesn’t count?
Not only are there some lightning bugs that don’t light up, many fireflies don’t even fly! (Glowworms, to be exact.)
Hundreds, probably thousands. The Great Plains is a major biogeographic barrier, as are the Rockies themselves.
The Northern Cardinal is abundant here in Southern Arizona. I’ve seen them outside of my back window. And yes, they’re the iconic male cardinal with the bright red crest and body and black mask around the face and beak, just like the baseball and football team mascots.
I live in south central Texas. ISTM that whenever this area has a wet spring, I see lightning bugs flashing at dusk. Some times at dawn, but rarely.
We’ve had a lot of rain this spring, and for the past week or so, I’ve seen lightning bugs flashing at dusk in my neighborhood. I saw one in my front yard last night; but I don’t know which species.
Yep! Real South Texas (near McAllen) as a kid and we would collect those fireflies at dusk and put them in a glass jar. Never got close to an electric light (like we wanted to believe we could).
I clearly remember seeing lightning bugs in the summer at my grandmother’s place in northwestern Arkansas and capturing them. Don’t think I ever saw them in West Texas; if I did, I don’t remember.
Definitely never saw any in New Mexico or Hawaii.
Used to see them regularly in Central Louisiana (Winn Parish) when I was a kid. Don’t see them much anymore. 