New fireflies that glow ghostly blue found in the Charlotte area
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- Mecklenburg Parks said this was their first local record of Piedmont blue ghost.
- Staff found about 30 Piedmont blue ghost fireflies and collected two for ID.
- Male Piedmont blue ghost fireflies emit a sustained pale blue glow for about one minute.
Blue ghost fireflies aren’t normally found in Mecklenburg County, but they are here now.
Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation announced Monday, June 29 that a type of blue ghost firefly, the Piedmont blue ghost, was spotted in the county. The Piedmont blue ghost is closely related to more well known blue ghosts found in the mountains of North Carolina.
The department said they identified around 30 blue ghost fireflies, and collected two for identification.
“This is our first local record!” The department wrote on Facebook. “Credit for the discovery goes to two of our environmental educators, Megan and Skye. They spotted the blue ghosts lighting up during a Firefly Atlas survey.”
Clyde Sorenson, a former Professor of entomology at NC State, studies North Carolina fireflies.
“North Carolina particularly has a pretty diverse group of fireflies living in it. We have somewhere between 30 and 40 species of fireflies in North Carolina,” Sorenson previously told the Observer. “Many fireflies are declining. Some of them have actually been listed as federally endangered species. None of those occur in North Carolina that we know of.”
While the blue ghost isn’t formally labeled as endangered, the firefly is fragile. Light pollution and habitat destruction are among the risks facing fireflies.
“About three quarters of the species (of firefly), they rely on light communication to find mates and to reproduce and so if there’s lots of extraneous nighttime light, that can really disrupt their ability to successfully accomplish that mission,” Sorenson said.
Synchronous fireflies
Some North Carolina fireflies are synchronous, drawing large crowds to watch the tiny insects light up in unison. However, the blue ghost firefly isn’t synchronized.
As the name suggests, the male blue ghost firefly emits a pale blue light. Unusually, the male blue ghost firefly stays illuminated for around a minute, rather than flashing for short periods or in rapid succession like many firefly species.
The fireflies glow close to the ground, hoping to find a mate. Female blue ghosts stay on the ground and emit a very low light.
Where are blue ghost fireflies?
Even if you don’t spot a blue ghost firefly (Mecklenburg Parks and Recreation didn’t disclose the location the fireflies were found, as they are a “sensitive species”), other North Carolina fireflies might be worth watching.
“I encourage folks to pay attention to all the really cool fireflies that already live around us,” Sorenson said. “There are many other species, and some of them, even though they don’t synchronize in the right habitat, reach really high densities that make just as spectacular a show.”
