# Are FIREFLIES Going Extinct? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 22, 2002, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fireflies-going-extinct/115490 "2002-06-22T20:20:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2002, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fireflies-going-extinct/115490/21 "2002-06-23T03:15:59Z")
No… I saw a few earlier today. ---
**Author:** ![modro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@modro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/modro)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2002, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fireflies-going-extinct/115490/22 "2002-06-23T03:22:34Z")
Not a single one to be seen here ☹ Usually there are a lot. There are definitely a lot of cicadas all over though. Those darn 17 year ones. ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2002, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fireflies-going-extinct/115490/23 "2002-06-23T03:31:42Z")
:smack: SEE?!? One just got me! ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2002, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fireflies-going-extinct/115490/24 "2002-06-23T03:59:14Z")
I’m in Tennessee too, and I still see them, but nowhere near as many as there were when I was a kid. It was a big summer thing to catch them and let them go in the house back then. I also notice very few locust skins. My brother loved to freak me out with those things. He’d come after me with about twenty of them stuck to his shirt. Last fall I was telling my daughter about this and she mentioned she’d never seen one. We went hunting for them but I never saw a one! ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2002, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fireflies-going-extinct/115490/25 "2002-06-23T04:19:23Z")
Never seen one in my life. Are they not hardy enough to survive in Saskatchewan? ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2002, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fireflies-going-extinct/115490/26 "2002-06-23T04:35:29Z")
We had a weird winter and spring here, so the fireflies are making a late, scanty showing here, too. Also, it’s worth knowing that fireflies need leaf litter to breed in, so if you and all your neighbors are overenthusiastic about raking leaves and cleaning flowerbeds, then your neighborhood won’t have many fireflies. [http://iris.biosci.ohio-state.edu/projects/FFiles/habitat.html](http://iris.biosci.ohio-state.edu/projects/FFiles/habitat.html) > [@](#): > > Most firefly larvae are found in rotting wood or other forest litter or on the edges of streams and ponds at night. > > \< snip \> > > Adult fireflies are found in the same general habitats as their larvae. > > \< snip \> > > If you live in the United States, west of about the middle of Kansas, you are not apt to have the flashing type of fireflies in your area. Although some isolated sightings of luminous fireflies have been reported from time to time from regions of the western U.S., fireflies that glow are typically not found west of Kansas. The reason for this phenomenon is not known. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2002, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fireflies-going-extinct/115490/27 "2002-06-23T05:11:03Z")
They’re concerned about ongoing tension in the Middle East and decided to conserve energy. ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2002, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fireflies-going-extinct/115490/28 "2002-06-23T06:03:19Z")
Lots of them here. But they do seem to be in fewer numbers than in past years. ---
**Author:** ![BooBoo316](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e0b2c6/32.png) [@BooBoo316](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BooBoo316)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2002, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fireflies-going-extinct/115490/29 "2002-06-23T08:16:06Z")
I got plenty in my backyard. I bought this house late last year, so I can’t say if it’s normal. ---
**Author:** ![anya\_marie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@anya\_marie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anya_marie)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2002, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fireflies-going-extinct/115490/30 "2002-06-24T05:38:07Z")
I just saw a couple of fireflies tonight, while i was outside getting cooled off. ---
**Author:** ![miamouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ad7895/32.png) [@miamouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miamouse)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2002, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fireflies-going-extinct/115490/31 "2002-06-24T16:55:30Z")
I’ve always wondered where the lightning bugs lived. Now that you say they live in rotting wood it makes sense that there are less of them this year. The neightbors tore out an old stump and we replaced two walls of an addition that the termites had gotten into. I had noticed that the usually turn up when it is more humid. I miss them. there’re magical for the kids (and me too). Any ideas on how to ‘replant’ them? ---
**Author:** ![knarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@knarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/knarf)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2002, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fireflies-going-extinct/115490/32 "2002-06-24T18:52:50Z")
There seem to be many more this year then I’ve seen in the last few years here. ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2002, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fireflies-going-extinct/115490/33 "2002-06-25T00:34:02Z")
There are still plenty in my neighborhood. They’re blinking out on the patio as I write this. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2002, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fireflies-going-extinct/115490/34 "2002-06-25T02:43:52Z")
Obviously **someone** hasn’t done a vanity search today:) Or he does the whole thing ( **RTFirefly** ). [sub]Yeah, I did that on the off-chance.[/sub] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fireflies-going-extinct/115490.md?page=1)