The 30 Most Beautiful Insects in the World
Fireflies
A sight to behold in the spring and summer, fireflies are a welcome and beautiful sight.
Fer Gregory/Shutterstock.com
By themselves, fireflies are not bad-looking insects. The common eastern firefly of eastern North America has a rose-colored thorax with a black spot, and its elytra are black and edged with yellow. What makes fireflies beautiful insects is the light they produce on warm spring and summer evenings. This light can be green, yellow, or even a faint red or blue. It is the result of a chemical reaction and produces no heat. Even firefly larvae glow. As a matter of fact, the larvae of all insects in the Lampyridae family glow even if the adults do not.
Fireflies are predators, and there’s a genus of fireflies, Photuris, whose females produce light to attract unrelated fireflies. When the male comes close, the Photuris female kills and eats him.
A sight to behold in the spring and summer, fireflies are a welcome and beautiful sight.
Fer Gregory/Shutterstock.com
By themselves, fireflies are not bad-looking insects. The common eastern firefly of eastern North America has a rose-colored thorax with a black spot, and its elytra are black and edged with yellow. What makes fireflies beautiful insects is the light they produce on warm spring and summer evenings. This light can be green, yellow, or even a faint red or blue. It is the result of a chemical reaction and produces no heat. Even firefly larvae glow. As a matter of fact, the larvae of all insects in the Lampyridae family glow even if the adults do not.
Fireflies are predators, and there’s a genus of fireflies, Photuris, whose females produce light to attract unrelated fireflies. When the male comes close, the Photuris female kills and eats him.
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02 March 2023
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