As I’m driving back to the lodge and my mind is on the road it’s almost muscle memory to select the roads back home. Now and then just checking where my Tracker, Mfundo, is pointing the light hoping that we might be lucky with a nocturnal animal. As the light passes, I get a glimpse of a green flash on my right side. I wonder if I saw it correctly. Yes, it’s a firefly! Never ceased to be amazed by the mystery of them as you wonder why they have these magical sharp neon flashes.

Photographed at Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve

Also known as lightning bugs, fireflies are not a bug or a fly, they are beetles. They are in the family Lampyridae, close relatives of soldier beetles.

They undergo complete metamorphosis. Like many other beetle species, their life cycle can be divided into 4 stages: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Not all species light up as adults, they all glow during the larval stage, and some glow as eggs! Like many insects, fireflies spend most of their lives as larvae, hiding in the leaf litter or underground during the daylight hours and prowling for prey at night. They typically overwinter in the larval stage and complete their metamorphosis the following year. They do not live long. An individual adult firefly only lives for 3-4 weeks.

Photographed by ruiruito

They are toxic. The luciferin chemical is a distasteful chemical defence. When you catch a firefly, you may notice droplets of this thick, white substance dripping out from their bodies. They do not have many natural enemies because of this. It could take about 20 fireflies to provide a fatal dose of luciferin to an adult human!

Sixty years ago, scientists discovered that the combination of oxygen with calcium adenosine Triphosphate and the chemical Luciferin in the presence of luciferase cases light to be produced in fireflies. This process of light production is called Bioluminescence and occur in the abdomen of fireflies. Interesting fact is that fireflies don’t heat up when they glow like a lightbulb. For them to stay alive the light produced is cold. Fireflies can simply switch on and off when they want to by the addition and removal of oxygen into the light organ.

Photographed by ANK070SHUTTERSTOCK

Fireflies light because of multiple reasons. Fireflies use flashes as mating signals. The flashes that you see on safari and in the garden are mostly from males looking out for females. They flash a specific pattern while they fly, hoping for a female reply. If a female likes what she sees, she responds back with a flash of her own. Larvae warn of predators by the light warning them that they are toxic. There are as many as 2000 species of fireflies. Red pale green to yellow, blue ghost firefly has blue light. Blue ghost fireflies make an appearance around Asheville, North Carolina. This rare type of firefly only glows during mating season, which begins in the late spring or early summer. That's when they show off their unique blue-white hues to attract a mate.

Unfortunately, they are disappearing. If you are from the older generation, you may have noticed that there aren’t as many fireflies flashing as there were a few years ago. Fireflies, like many other species, are declining rapidly worldwide. Reasons being habitat loss, pesticides in gardens and light pollution are all contributing factors to their disappearance. To create a suitable habitat for fireflies in your own backyard you should eliminate or reduce pesticide use, and leave leaf litter and wild edges as habitat, also by reducing light pollution so they can find each other during the breeding season.

What does green firefly mean? Fireflies from different species often glow in different colours. Fireflies that are out at night often glow in green, whereas fireflies that are out at the end of twilight often glow in yellow.

In the animal Kingdom there are multiple species on land and in the sea that produce light in their bodies. All Scorpions produce a blue green glow which can be seen under ultraviolet light. This is because of a substance found in their exoskeleton called Hyaline layer. This can even be seen years after their death. The Deep-sea Anglerfish has a light on the tip of their dorsal spine. It looks like a worm which is rare in the deep sea and they use it to attract their prey. The Googly-eyed Glass Squid has a unique glow under their transparent body. The photospheres on their tentacles and eyes allow them to be bioluminescent which means the production and emission of light in a living organism. The Bioluminescence of Jellyfish was required over time. They ingest small bioluminescent crustaceans.

I really love the fact that you can’t predict when you will see one. You might be in the right area and wait for hours before a quick flash appears. So, it’s more that you appreciate it every time as you know it’s a special sight.

Photographed at Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve

So next time on safari keep an eye out for those green flashes.

Blog by Dieter Lategan (Little Bush Camp Ranger)