Why are there no red-colored lightning bugs?
I will go to the answer right away. Because lightning bugs cannot see the color red. Like nearly all beetles, and nearly all nocturnal insects, they have a range of colors they can detect, and red is not one of them.
So what color are lightning bugs?
They flash white, yellow, a bit of orange, even green. Obviously, their display of lights is designed to attract mates. So they flash colors other members of their species can see.
It’s a fun fact, but why does this matter?
It matters because we, as humans, are drastically changing the environment for nocturnal creatures through our excessive use of artificial outdoor lighting. Outdoor lights at night attract the creatures that live in the dark.
Just walk out at night in the summer, and look for a minute at a light shining in the night. You will see insects. Those insects are not gathering food, they are not building nests, they are not mating, they are not pollinating our plants. Instead they are wasting their very limited time they have to live and procreate flying around a light source. They are exhausting themselves, exhausting themselves to death. These insects are the base of the food pyramid for the whole rest of the ecology. They provide the nourishment for the birds and other creatures that visit your garden during the day. Without these insects, the rest of the small world that is only a few dozen feet from your front door goes hungry, and leaves your garden for better places to live.
We can do something about this loss of life. We can turn off outdoor lights. There is really no need for a light on your driveway at 2 a.m. It is not providing any increased security, no one is navigating your drive, it does not make your property look better. A simple motion sensor fixture or even motion sensor light bulb does a much better job on these subjects. But a constantly burning light is killing wildlife, every night.
But why did we start this with what color lightning bugs are? Because if there is a need for an outdoor light, then make that light red. We, as humans, can see red. It works perfectly fine for our needs at night. But it doesn’t attract the insects, birds, and other wildlife that is out there trying to live while we are sleeping. They can’t even see it. Many LEDs can be tuned to be red, or the light could be a red light or a simple red film can be put over the lens of the light.
Studies have shown that if an area is lit at night with white or yellow or green or virtually any other color, lightning bug activity goes way down. If you value the experience of seeing lightning bugs flitting around your grass, don’t blind them with your lights. Let them see the dark and therefore see each other. Let’s be on the side of nature, so that nature can be on our side, too.
Turning off your outdoor light at night is a small thing, but it is a thing we can do at no cost to ourselves, that saves lives and helps nature. And that ultimately saves us, and helps us.
Erich W. Neal lives in Doylestown.
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