the.com/firefly
a beetle that turned its own butt into a love letter written in light
means A nocturnal beetle whose abdomen produces flashes of cold light, used to attract mates, despite its name being neither a fly nor literally on fire.
from A plain compound of "fire" and "fly," both ancient English words — "fire" from Old English "fȳr" (a cousin of German "Feuer" and Greek "pyr"), and "fly" from Old English "flēoge," anything that flits. Early namers saw a glowing speck drifting through the dark and reached for the obvious: a fly made of fire. The bug is actually a beetle and the glow is chemistry, not flame — but the name stuck, as honest as a country eye in the dusk.
- not flies
- They're beetles, despite the name
- cold light
- Their glow wastes almost no heat
- flash code
- Each species blinks a unique signal
- femme fatale
- Some females mimic flashes to eat males
- toxic blood
- They bleed defensive poison when threatened
photinus pyralis — the common eastern firefly of north america, most recognizable bioluminescent beetle