We found a quiet, dark spot in the road and stood on the side, looking into a dark, shallow valley and waited. Of the 19 species of lightning bugs found in the park, this is the only one that syncs. The other is in Southeast Asia, where they are not nearly as uncommon as they are in the U.S. One is in the mountains of East Tennessee, on the border of Western North Carolina. There are only two spots in the world where lightning bug blink in sync. These bugs, species Photinus carolinus, are sort of a big deal. Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Like this story? Get the latest from the Daily Yonder directly in your inbox, twice each week. ![]() Photo by Shawn Poynter Folks arrive early to claim their viewing spots. I’d like to apologize to the random travelers who may or may not have temporarily blinded or enraged by my itchy trigger thumb. They did not, however, give us a cover for the emergency strobe light than runs the length of our light. A park ranger gave us what looked like a red prophylactic that fit snugly over the tip of our flashlight with the hope it’d make the light less intrusive to both bug and sightseer. Loads of non-camping visitors on National Park trollies passed us on the narrow bridge that delineates the viewing area from the camping area. We walked over at a few minutes before 9, just before dark, and the flies (which are actually beetles, but this is not a National Geographic article) were still unlit. We were lucky enough to snag the last remaining camping spot at the nearby campground, a five-minute walk to the viewing area. A chance to watch all these fireflies peacock their way to the promised land was too much to pass up. Two bright derrières winking in the night. The males flash first, then wait for the females to respond. The display’s purpose is instantly recognizable to any who’s been in a bar during last call or currently has an active Tinder account. ![]() To paraphrase a quote often paraphrased by a boss of mine, it’s not the disappointment that gets you, it’s the hope. So if you are a cynic, pessimist, or advanced-level doubter, like me, you will go in with tempered expectations. The promise seems ridiculous: Clouds of fireflies, or lighting bugs if you’re so inclined, blinking in sync with each other. My wife and I joined the herd for the first time this year, not expecting the show to truly live up to the hype. Who needs Jurassic World when you have a front-row, camping-chair seat to thousands and thousands of fireflies blinking at the same time, and in real-life 3-D to boot?Įarly every June, thousands of bug-a-philes, nature lovers, and RV campers swarm to the Elkmont viewing area of Great Smoky Mountains National Park in East Tennessee at dusk, flashlights and fold-out chairs in hand, to wait for the sun to dim and the show to begin. " Rhythmic Entrainment: Why Humans Want to, Fireflies Can’t Help It, Pet Birds Try, and Sea Lions Have to Be Bribed." Psychonomic Bulletin & Review.Photo by Ryan Atkins Synchronous fireflies at Elkmont in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. " Do Courtship Flashes of Fireflies (Coleoptera: Lampyridae) Serve as Aposematic Signals to Insectivorous Bats?" Animal Behaviour. ![]() " Total Evidence Phylogeny and the Evolution of Adult Bioluminescence in Fireflies (Coleoptera: Lampyridae)." Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. " Thieves in the Night: Kleptoparasitism by Fireflies in the Genus Photuris Dejean (Coleoptera: Lampyridae)." The Coleopterists Bulletin. ![]() " Courtship and Mating in Phausis Reticulata (Coleoptera: Lampyridae): Male Flight Behaviors, Female Glow Displays, and Male Attraction to Light Traps." The Florida Entomologist. " The Evolution of the Adenylate-Forming Protein Family in Beetles: Multiple Luciferase Gene Paralogues in Fireflies and Glow-Worms." Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. " Larval Biology and Ecology of Photuris Fireflies (Lampyridae: Coleoptera) in Northcentral Florida." Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society." Biology of the Firefly Pyractomena Lucifera (Coleoptera: Lampyridae)." The Florida Entomologist.
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