Do Fireflies Live in a Colony?

Range

• More than 2,000 species of fireflies live in warm, humid areas around the world. Some Asian species live underwater. According to White River Watchers, "The greatest number of firefly species (highest species diversity) are found in tropical Asia and Central and South America." Fireflies are also found in dry areas of the world following a rain.

Habitat

• Female beetles lay eggs in soft soil where they hatch about four weeks later. Larvae are found in rotting wood or forest litter at the edges of streams, ponds and temporary pools of water. After feeding for three months, larvae dig tunnels to live in as they pupate. The beetle leaves the tunnel to live three or four months. "And as they grow, they more or less stay where they are born...in fields, forests and marshes," according to the website Firefly.

Food

• Larvae eat other insects, snails, slugs and earthworms. A group of larvae have been seen attacking a large earthworm. This behavior shows organization and cooperation, but is not enough to classify the larvae as colonists. Larvae inject their prey with a numbing agent to immobilize it. It is not confirmed whether adult beetles eat anything. It is commonly thought that the beetles eat pollen and flower parts.

Behavior

• Each species has its own flash pattern to attract a mate. The male flies up from a blade of grass and flashes a signal in hopes that a female will answer from the ground by flashing once or twice. If there is no answer flash, the male will move to another spot and try again. According to Steven Strogatz on the website Edge, thousands of male fireflies have been observed synchronizing their flash patterns as they gather in the same area. This behavior is called emergence, or self-organizing.