Book Review: The Fireflies Book by Brett Ortler

Scientists describe big dippers as Lampyridae (“shining”) family members within the Coleoptera (“sheathed wing”) beetle order of the animal kingdom’s insect class. A frontal, upper pair of hardened, leather-like, thickened wings indeed enables a blinkie to effectuate aerial balance while a lower, rear pair of foldable, membraneous, vein-crossed wings manage actual flight launches, patterns, and returns. Some fireflies nevertheless find themselves classified as glow flies despite inabilities to:

• effectuate flight, as in the case of the southeastern United States of America’s blue ghosts (Phausis reticulata), whose females lack wings; or
• produce light, as in the examples of Eurasia’s and North America’s Ototetrinae subfamily members that communicate by pheromones (excreted or secreted chemicals) instead of bioluminescence (light emissions). 

Bioluminescence-practicing golden sparklers give off lower abdomen-produced light. They have light-producing cells for making luciferin and taking in oxygen. The final product intends to be:

• color- and pattern-specific, continuous or intermittent by species;
• communication-oriented for grounded females and high-flying males intent upon mating;
• defense-oriented as warnings of unpleasant smells, tastes, and textures for natural enemies and potential predators;
• 99+% light-emitting in cold, low-heat, non-infrared, non-ultraviolet frequencies of blue, green, pink or yellow wavelengths of 510 to 670 nanometers;
• non-visible in day-active species foraging or mating beyond shadowy shelters; and
• present throughout complete metamorphosis life cycles and natural histories, from a lightning beetle’s 500 eggs, through simple-eyed larvae hatching four weeks later and pupating, to compound-eyed, mating-minded adults. 

Moon bugs join other insects in claiming hungry larval and starving adult stages. Scientists know of lightning beetle life expectancies as involving:

• egg stages 500 in number, laid as singles or in groups, for three or four weeks;
• larval stages of summer-long feeding thanks to sickle-shaped mandibles (jaws) for injecting paralyzing chemicals into such prey as slugs, snails, and worms;
• little-known metamorphosing stages as pupae retiring for one to two or three weeks; and
• mature stages as adults feeding on nectar, nothing, or pollen.

So The Fireflies Book: Fun Facts About the Fireflies You Loved as a Kid moves readers through culturally enriching, educationally entertaining, light-filled summertime journeys with:

• Adventure Publications, Inc., publisher; and
• Brett Ortler, writer.  

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

A favorite childhood memory is lighting up a mason jar with fireflies: adults may also enjoy the private light show.
"capturing light in a jar"; Broadacres, Athens, Clarke County, northeast Georgia; Wednesday, June 17, 2009, 21:48:29: B Rosen, CC BY ND 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/rosengrant/3637839874/

space-filling model of firefly luciferin (Latin: lucifer, "light-bearer")
color coding: yellow=sulfur; blue=nitrogen; black=carbon; red=oxygen; white=hydrogen
Firefly luciferin is an essential molecule for light emission by fireflies.: Ben Mills (Benjah-bmm27), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Firefly-luciferin-3D-vdW.png

Fireflies illuminate the skies as well as floral landscapes.
lupines (Lupinus spp.) and fireflies (Lampyridae family), Milo, Piscataquis County, central Maine: Mike Lewinski (ikewinski), CC BY 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/ikewinski/14505155544/

Photinus pyralis, known commonly as big dipper firefly or common eastern firefly, is the most common North American species of firefly.
Posey County, southwestern Indiana: terry priest (art farmer), CC BY-SA 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/artfarmer/198487523/

My Maine coon kittycat Augusta "Gusty" Sunshine loves to lean against an Eastern White Pine (Pinus strobus) while fireflies dance around her.
"Cat and Fireflies"; digital art: garlandcannon, CC BY SA 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/garlandcannon/5613598677/

Marriner, Derdriu. 21 May 2015. “Big Dipper Firefly: Yellow Green Twilight Flashes of Photinus pyralis.” Earth and Space News.

• Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/05/big-dipper-firefly-yellow-green.html

Ortler, Brett. 2014. The Fireflies Book: Fun Facts About the Fireflies You Loved as a Kid. Cambridge, MN: Adventure Publications, Inc.