That makes for a lot of suitors, and an easy meal.
By the time one male finds the female, often so too have others. He said then it’s a game of “Marco Polo’’ for the two to find each other. Females, which rarely fly and often wait at the base of plants for males to come calling, signal back with a fainter but mimicking flash. Just about sunset, males take to flight, their bright green flashing serving as a courtship display. Here's Kubik's explanation of the bizarre behavior: Kubik said the Fort Collins fireflies’ genus name is Photuris, which in Latin means "light terror." The genus also goes by another name: femme fatale fireflies, a name earned by females that eat males with which they mate. Most of the fireflies found in Colorado are non-glowing species - but not the ones Kubik found in areas around Fort Collins. “Then by accident the wind had blown a stray male across the trail and I followed the direction he came and, lo and behold, they were there.’’ 'Light terror' “One evening I was out for a walk in Reservoir Ridge (Natural Area) and definitely not looking for fireflies because I had given up,’’ he said. He was about to give up that first year when he was literally sent a signal. He focused on reclaimed gravel pit ponds because fireflies prefer areas around wetlands with nearby grassy meadows. "The more I started digging, the more I discovered populations speckled all along the foothills.''įor the past three years while a student at CSU, Kubik has kicked around many of Fort Collins' mosquito-infested natural areas looking for fireflies. "I stumbled upon them by accident and it literally sparked an intense interest in them,'' he said. Then one day while looking for butterflies and ants for the Colorado Natural Heritage Program in 2016, he came upon his first Colorado fireflies south of Colorado Springs.Įntomologists have known fragmented firefly populations existed in the state, but little else was known about Colorado’s fireflies until Kubik started digging. Problem was he couldn’t find them in Colorado. Kubik, 22, has had a lifelong love of fireflies. It was given to him by his father, an aquatic entomologist who piqued his son’s interest in insects at an early age. The Conifer native's middle name didn't come by accident.
#Lightning flies free#
Find it all in the free NoCoAsks newsletter. Hey Google, what’s the news in Fort Collins? You asked Google. If confirmed to be a new species, Kubik said the firefly would have the name Photuris coloradensis. "But modern molecular techniques and sequencing data suggests these are new to science.'' "We thought they were introduced from the East," CSU graduate Tristan Darwin Kubik said. Now Colorado youth might be joining in those lasting memories.Ī Colorado State University biochemistry/entomology graduate believes the fireflies he has been researching in Fort Collins the past three years are native to the state and might be returning to historic population levels.Īnd they aren’t just your ordinary firefly - these are among the biggest, baddest, brightest fireflies out there. Watch Video: Yes, Colorado has fireflies and they are big, bad, bright and nativeĬhildren who grew up in the Midwest and eastern states fondly remember hot, humid summer nights chasing and catching fireflies.
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