How long do fireflies live, and how long can they generally survive?
The firefly is a general term for insects of the family Lampyridae, with about 2000 species worldwide, distributed in tropical, subtropical and temperate regions. In China, the more commonly seen species include the black firefly, the red dwarf firefly and the window-breasted firefly. They are active at night, and the eggs, larvae and pupae can often also glow. The glow of the adult serves to attract the opposite sex. Now let us take a look at how long a firefly lives!
How long is the lifespan of a firefly
In the wild, the lifespan of a firefly is generally 3 to 7 days, though some live as long as 10 to 20 days. After 14 nights of brilliant dancing light, they reach the end of their lives. For such a tiny firefly, life is brief, yet the colour they bring is a bright scenic line of the summer night. And for this brief “shining”, the firefly needs a whole year to develop, from egg to larva, to pupa, and then to adult.
What food do fireflies eat
Fireflies are carnivorous creatures. In the larval stage they mainly eat snails, river snails and shellfish. Although firefly larvae are very small, they are very bold and dare to take on a snail, until they eat it. This is all because they have a unique set of “martial arts”. When the larva finds a snail, it first stabs the snail several times with its needle-like mouth. What for? It is giving the snail a “anaesthetic needle”, spraying out a toxin that numbs the snail, and then injects a digestive enzyme into the snail, until the snail's flesh is turned into a thin, delicious broth. It then calls its companions, who gather around the snail and all insert their syringe-like mouths into the snail's flesh to suck up the broth. After the larva becomes an adult, it no longer hunts, merely drinking a little dew or taking some nectar, until it finally starves to death.
Reasons why fireflies have short lives
1. The adult's food is only water: the adult firefly takes in nothing but water, and its way of feeding is not to drink directly from a lake, but to gather at places with high air humidity and take in evaporated water vapour. When they hatch into adults, their mouthparts have already degenerated, so apart from drinking water they can no longer take in any nutrients to sustain their fragile and beautiful lives.
2. Inability to adapt to the climate and environment: fireflies mostly live in warm areas with a certain level of humidity, and fireflies can often be found by rivers and other such places. However, if they are preyed upon by other natural enemies, or if rivers are polluted, or if the weather is too dry, their numbers will not only decrease but their lifespan will also be greatly shortened. Because they are rather picky about their living area, preferring only water bodies rich in natural resources and free of pollution, in places where water pollution is relatively serious, hardly any fireflies can be seen at all.
3. Glowing leads to a short lifespan: when people mention fireflies, many think of the beautiful light they emit, which is in fact their most easily understood characteristic. The act of glowing is an important communication signal between fireflies of the same kind, and its ultimate purpose is to mate, lay eggs and finally reproduce. There is also a view that this light can play a role in frightening and warning off natural enemies. But there is no doubt that, in the brief life of almost all nocturnal fireflies, glowing plays an important role.