No, fireflies and lightning bugs aren’t going extinct
A TikTok with over six million likes claims lightning bugs will quickly go extinct. Consultants push again.
MISSOURI, USA — Lights within the Midwest’s summer time nights have grown dimmer over the previous a long time.
The glowing flicks of fireflies, or lightning bugs, set off nostalgia and deeply held childhood recollections for numerous individuals. However the cherished insect is dealing with rising issues.
A 5 On Your Facet viewer informed the VERIFY team she hasn’t seen the awe-inspiring bugs in her yard for years. A latest TikTok video, liked by over six million peopleadditionally claimed “we are the final technology” to see fireflies.
We dug into the information to seek out out whether or not the bugs are literally underneath risk.
The query
Is it true that fireflies are going extinct?
Our sources
- The Butterfly Home Supervisor of Collections Chris Hartley
- Missouri Division of Conservation Spokesperson Dan Zarlenga
The reply
No, fireflies/lightning bugs aren’t going extinct, however their populations are declining, particularly in extremely human-populated areas.
What we discovered
There are literally thousands of species of fireflies all through the world, and their populations are declining, in response to our specialists.
In 2024, U.S. officers proposed itemizing a firefly species as “threatened” underneath the Endangered Species Act for the primary time within the nation’s historical past.
The bugs’ decline is principally on account of a big lack of habitat, pushed by suburban lawns and insecticide use, in response to Hartley.
“They want an space the place leaves cowl the bottom for a number of years at a time,” Hartley informed 5 On Your Facet. “The firefly larva lives underneath leaves for 2, generally even three years.”
Making a protected haven for the bugs may help the pollinators make a comeback, which embody making a portion of yards which might be at all times coated by leaves, decreasing insecticide use, and curbing in a single day manmade mild.
Regardless of one species of the bug being proposed for the “threatened” class, specialists say the bugs aren’t dealing with fast extinction, regardless of what the extraordinarily standard TikTok video claims. The frequent japanese firefly, the species most commonly seen in Missouriis listed as a species of “least concern” by conservationists.
We will VERIFY: False, fireflies aren’t going extinct, however their populations are declining.