Las luciérnagas encuentran el amor en Utah

Las luciérnagas encuentran el amor en Utah: Las luciérnagas (Firefly), Courtesy Pixabay, Francisco Javier Corado Rivera, Contributor
Las luciérnagas (Firefly),
Courtesy Pixabay, Francisco Javier Corado Rivera, Contributor
Mi nombre es Kate, y me llamo Carlos, y hoy este Wild About Utah está en español e inglés. Esta historia también, se puede escuchar on line en UPR.org

Contra todo pronóstico, las luciérnagas encuentran el amor aquí en Utah. En lugares como el Parque de las Luciérnagas en Nibley, puedes ver estas deslumbrantes linternas bailar y rebotar a partir de principios de junio. Ver estas luciérnagas es mágico, aún más cuando sabes lo que les costó brillar cada noche.

El primer desafío que enfrenta una luciérnaga es encontrar un buen hábitat húmedo aquí en el árido Utah. Encontrar un hábitat oscuro y húmedo puede ser difícil, pero de alguna manera las luciérnagas lo han logrado y lo han hecho en Utah desde posiblemente 1929. Una vez que una luciérnaga encuentra un buen lugar, ahora tienen que encontrarse entre sí. Hacer esto requiere precisión y química. En su linterna abdominal, la enzima luciferasa debe abrazar tanto la luciferina como una molécula de energía estrechamente para ayudar a combinar sus partes.

Luego, la luciferina se combina con oxígeno para formar la energética oxiluciferasa. Al igual que un niño con demasiados dulces, la oxiluciferasa ahora está desesperada por liberar algo de energía antes de que sea demasiada. Esto lo hace liberando un fotón que emite luz y vemos la magia ante nuestros ojos. Como si crear luz dentro del cuerpo no fuera suficiente, ahora deben ajustar su señal a su especie y encontrarse entre sí. Cada especie tiene un código morse único de luz que necesitan parpadear para encontrarse.

Ahora, digamos que una luciérnaga llega a un hábitat pantanoso y conoce al amor de su corta vida de 3 semanas, ahora puede comenzar el romance. Los machos y hembras copulan durante horas, permaneciendo quietos y pegados de extremo a extremo. Durante este tiempo, el macho le da a la hembra lo que se llama un regalo nupcial lleno de proteínas junto con su esperma. ¡Si eso no es romántico, no sé qué lo es!

Las hembras almacenarán este regalo y lo digerirán durante varios días para ayudarla a obtener las proteínas necesarias para poner sus huevos. Una vez puestos, estos huevos tardarán entre unos pocos meses a 2 años en convertirse en adultos, donde iluminarán su corazón para repetir el proceso.

Para mi entender la naturaleza y los pequeños detalles de ella me llena de satisfacción, el saber que es tan perfecta. Esa pequeña luz llena esperanza, nos muestra que el mañana sera mejor.

Mi nombre es Kate y me llamo Carlos y estamos locos por Utah.

Credits:
English Version: Fireflies Find Love in Utah, https://wildaboututah.org/fireflies-find-love-in-utah/
Images: Courtesy Pixabay, Francisco Javier Corado, Rivera, Contributor, https://pixabay.com/photos/insect-nature-yard-firefly-5151913/
Featured Audio: Courtesy & Copyright Anderson, Howe, & Wakeman
Text: Kate Hunter & Carlos Ramos, https://logannature.org/staff
Additional Reading: Lyle Bingham, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/

Additional Reading

Wild About Utah Pieces by Kate Hunter https://wildaboututah.org/author/kate-hunter/
Wild About Utah Pieces by Carlos Ramos https://wildaboututah.org/author/carlos-ramos/

Strand, Holly, Firefly Light, Wild About Utah, June 20, 2013, https://wildaboututah.org/firefly-light/

Hellstern, Ron, June Fireflies, Wild About Utah, June 19, 2017, https://wildaboututah.org/june-fireflies/

Bills, Christy, Fireflies, Wild About Utah, May 15, 2019, https://wildaboututah.org/fireflies/

Heers, Mary, Fireflies at Nibley Firefly Park, Wild About Utah, May 23, 2022, https://wildaboututah.org/see-fireflies-at-nibley-firefly-park/

Join Stokes Nature Center for their firefly tours, from 9:15-10:15 at Virgil Gibbons Heritage Park/Firefly Park in Nibley, UT!
All nights are offered in English while June 6 and 7th will also have Spanish Tours
Dates and Links to Ticketing are Here:
–   June 3rd-https://givebutter.com/firefly25-june3
–   June 5th-https://givebutter.com/firefly25-june5
–   June 6th-https://givebutter.com/firefly25-june6 (Tours offered in Spanish as well)
–   June 7th-https://givebutter.com/firefly25-june7 (Tours offered in Spanish as well)

Fireflies Find Love in Utah

Fireflies Find Love in Utah: Firefly (Las luciérnagas), Courtesy Pixabay, Francisco Javier Corado Rivera, Contributor
Firefly (Las luciérnagas),
Courtesy Pixabay, Francisco Javier Corado Rivera, Contributor
My name is Kate and my name is Carlos. Today’s Wild About Utah is in both Spanish and English. The Spanish version will be read by Carlos Ramos. You can also listen to this story in Spanish this Wednesday evening between 9:01-9:06 or online.

Against all odds, fireflies find love here in Utah. Out at places like Firefly Park in Nibley, you can watch these dazzling lanterns dance and bounce, starting around early June. Watching these fireflies is magical, even more when you know what it took for them to glow each night.

The first challenge a firefly faces is finding a good wet habitat out here in arid Utah. Finding dark, wet habitat can be tough, but somehow fireflies have done it and have done so in Utah since potentially 1929. Once a firefly finds a good spot, now they have to find each other. Doing this requires precision and chemistry. In their abdominal lantern, the enzyme luciferase must hug both luciferin and a molecule of energy tightly to help combine their parts. Then luciferin combines with oxygen to form the energetic Oxyluciferase. Much like a kid with too much candy, Oxyluciferase is now desperate to release some energy before it’s too much. It does this by releasing a light-emitting photon and we see the magic before our eyes. As if creating light inside one’s body wasn’t tough enough, now they must attune their signal to their species and find each other. Each species has a unique Morse code of light they need to blip in order to find each other.

Now, let’s say a firefly makes it to a marshy habitat and they meet the love of their short 3-week life, now the romance can begin. Males and females copulate for hours, remaining still and stuck end to end. During this time, the male gives the female what’s called a nuptial gift full of protein along with his sperm. If that isn’t romantic, I don’t know what is! The females will store this gift and digest it over several days to help her get the protein to lay her eggs. Once laid, these eggs will take between a few months to 2 years to become adults where they will light their heart out to repeat the process.

For me, thinking about all the chemistry involved, both molecular and romantic, is moving. I hope we can protect their light for generations to come.

My name is Kate and my name is Carlos and we’re Wild About Utah.

Credits:
Spanish Version: Las luciérnagas encuentran el amor en Utah, https://wildaboututah.org/las-luciernagas-encuentran-el-amor-en-utah/
Images: Courtesy Pixabay, Francisco Javier Corado, Rivera, Contributor, https://pixabay.com/photos/insect-nature-yard-firefly-5151913/
Featured Audio: Courtesy & Copyright Anderson, Howe, & Wakeman
Text: Kate Hunter & Carlos Ramos, https://logannature.org/staff
Additional Reading: Lyle Bingham, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/

Additional Reading

Wild About Utah Pieces by Kate Hunter https://wildaboututah.org/author/kate-hunter/
Wild About Utah Pieces by Carlos Ramos https://wildaboututah.org/author/carlos-ramos/

Strand, Holly, Firefly Light, Wild About Utah, June 20, 2013, https://wildaboututah.org/firefly-light/

Hellstern, Ron, June Fireflies, Wild About Utah, June 19, 2017, https://wildaboututah.org/june-fireflies/

Bills, Christy, Fireflies, Wild About Utah, May 15, 2019, https://wildaboututah.org/fireflies/

Heers, Mary, Fireflies at Nibley Firefly Park, Wild About Utah, May 23, 2022, https://wildaboututah.org/see-fireflies-at-nibley-firefly-park/

Join Stokes Nature Center for their firefly tours, from 9:15-10:15 at Virgil Gibbons Heritage Park/Firefly Park in Nibley, UT!
All nights are offered in English while June 6 and 7th will also have Spanish Tours
Dates and Links to Ticketing are Here:
–   June 3rd-https://givebutter.com/firefly25-june3
–   June 5th-https://givebutter.com/firefly25-june5
–   June 6th-https://givebutter.com/firefly25-june6 (Tours offered in Spanish as well)
–   June 7th-https://givebutter.com/firefly25-june7 (Tours offered in Spanish as well)

See Fireflies at Nibley Firefly Park

Nibley Firefly Park: Luci the Firefly from  The Mystery of Luci’s Missing Lantern by Melissa Marsted and illustrated by Liesl Cannon Courtesy & © Liesl Cannon, Illustrator
Luci the Firefly from
The Mystery of Luci’s Missing Lantern by Melissa Marsted, illust. by Liesl Cannon
Courtesy & © Liesl Cannon, Illustrator

Author Melissa Marsted and Illustrator Liesl Cannon at the Stokes Nature Center Book Signing Courtesy & © Mary Heers Author Melissa Marsted and Illustrator Liesl Cannon at the Stokes Nature Center Book Signing
Courtesy & © Mary Heers

Just imagine waking from a very long sleep into a bright May morning in Cache Valley. This is the story of Luci, a western firefly, told charmingly by Melissa Marsted and illustrated by Liesl Cannon in their new children’s book, The Mystery of Luci’s Missing Lantern. After completing her transition from a larva to an adult firefly, Luci notices she has no light. She flies up Logan Canyon looking for her missing lantern, where the animals she meets encourage her to keep looking. But its a bluebird on top of Mt. Naomi, the highest point in the canyon, who turns Luci around and sends her back to where she was born, the Nibley Firefly Park.

There Luci finds her light. She sits down near the top of a tall blade of grass, and suddenly males fly by, flashing their lights, trying to get her attention. Luci discovers she can flash back. It’s a party – a big courtship dance.

You can see the story unfold if you visit the Nibley Firefly Park after dark. But please tread carefully. For fireflies, this is their Grand Finale. It has taken two years for them to grow from larvae to flying adults. Now they are choosing a mate. By July they will have laid their eggs in the nearby marshy ground and their life cycle will come to an end.

Any artificial light brought to the scene (such as flashlights and car headlights) seriously disrupts the courtship flashing. If you visit the Nibley Firefly Park this summer, please keep your light to the barest minimum, and – enjoy the party.

This is Mary Heers and I’m Wild About Utah

Nibley’s Firefly Park is located at 2400 South 1000 West.
Typically fireflies are active at about 10:00 pm.

Credits:
Images: Courtesy & Copyright © Mary Heers
Featured Audio: Courtesy & Copyright
Text: Mary Heers, https://cca.usu.edu/files/awards/art-and-mary-heers-citation.pdf
Additional Reading: Lyle Bingham, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/

Additional Reading

Western Firefly Project: A Community Science Initiative, Natural History Museum of Utah, https://nhmu.utah.edu/citizen-science/fireflies

Wild About Utah, Mary Heers’ Postings

Bills, Christy, Utah Fireflies, Wild About Utah,Sept 7, 2020, https://wildaboututah.org/utah_fireflies/ AND
Bills, Christy, Fireflies, Wild About Utah, May 15, 2019, https://wildaboututah.org/fireflies/

Hellstern, Ron, June Fireflies, Wild About Utah, June 19, 2017, https://wildaboututah.org/june-fireflies/

Strand, Holly, Firefly light, Wild About Utah, June 20, 2013, https://wildaboututah.org/firefly-light/

Marstad, Melissa C, Author, & Cannon, Liesl, Illustrator, The Mystery of Luci’s Missing Lantern, Lucky Penny Publications, LLC, Mar 16, 2021, https://www.amazon.com/Mystery-Lucis-Missing-Lantern/dp/1945243805

Guided Firefly Walks, May 30th-June 4th; 9:15-10:30 pm nightly, Stokes Nature Center, https://logannature.org/centerevents/2022/5/30/guided-firefly-walks

Firefly Viewing at Nibley’s Firefly Park, Nibley City, https://nibleycity.com/index.php/departments/parks-recreation/489-firefly-park

Fireflies

Fireflies: Firefly Courtesy & Copyright BJ Nicholls
Firefly
Courtesy & Copyright BJ Nicholls
Hi, My name is Christy Bills, I am the entomologist at the Natural History Museum of Utah.

I am excited to talk about the Utah Firefly citizens science project. A lot of people are surprised to know that we have fireflies in Utah, but we actually have them in 20 of the 29 counties, that we’ve discovered so far. People are often surprised that they’re here, and they think that they’ve just arrived but they haven’t. They like to live in marshy areas, and they are only adults from late May to early July, so that’s why people often don’t see them, because people aren’t usually recreating in marshy areas.

Fireflies: Flashing Firefly Courtesy & Copyright BJ Nicholls
Flashing Firefly
Courtesy & Copyright BJ Nicholls
The firefly citizens science project asks people to report when they see them to the museums website, and that allows us as researchers to know where they are so we can track their activity. We’ve been collecting data on them for 4 or 5 years and learning more about them over that time period.

I’ve actually gone through old newspapers that have been digitized online, and looked for any reference to fireflies or lightning bugs, and I have found zero reference dating back 100 years. However, when you actually talk to people in rural communities who have pastures and farms, it turns out anecdotally a lot of people know about them. This is a really wonderful way of people bridging the academic rural divide, and finding out that people in these communities have a wealth of knowledge that we can draw from, and they’ll say, “Oh yeah my grandpa always had them in the orchard,” or “We always knew that they were there,” so it turns out people always knew about them. Not a lot of people, but enough people.
People have anecdotes about knowing about them in urban areas, where there are clearly not anymore because of development and light pollution. That helps us also know what factors make them go away.

More information about the project is available, at NHMU.UTAH.EDU/fireflies.

I’m Christy Bills and I’m wild about Utah.

Credits:

Image: Courtesy & Copyright BJ Nicholls, Photographer
Text: Christy Bills, Entomologist, Natural History Museum of Utah, https://nhmu.utah.edu/about/staff see “Invertebrate Zoology”

Reported Sightings:


Report your sighting


Sources & Additional Reading

Western Firefly Project: A Community Science Initiative, Natural History Museum of Utah. https://nhmu.utah.edu/fireflies/

Hellstern, Ron, June Fireflies, Wild About Utah, June 19, 2017, https://wildaboututah.org/june-fireflies/

Strand, Holly, Firefly Light, Wild About Utah, Jun 20, 2013, https://wildaboututah.org/firefly-light/

Buschman, Lawrent L., Biology of the Firefly Pyractomena lucifera (Coleoptera: Lampyridae). The Florida Entomologist. 1984. Vol. 67(4):529. DOI: 10.2307/3494462 https://www.jstor.org/stable/3494462?origin=crossref&seq=5

Lloyd, James E., 1964. Notes on Flash Communication in the Firefly Pyractomena dispersa (Coleoptera: Lampyridae) Annals of the Entomological Society of America, Volume 57, Number 2, March 1964 , pp. 260-261. (James Lloyd is a leading authority on fireflies. He retired from academic duty at the University of FL, but here is a web page with some of his wisdom and musings. https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/lloyd/firefly/

(Boston) Museum of Science Firefly Watch
Volunteers help citizen scientists track firefly occurrences.
https://legacy.mos.org/fireflywatch/
https://www.massaudubon.org/programs-events/community-science/firefly-watch/view-explore-data

National Geographic. Firefly (Lightning Bug) Lampyridae, https://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/bugs/firefly/

Phys.org news service. Jun 26, 2012. Romancing the firefly: New insights into what goes on when the lights go off. https://phys.org/news/2012-06-romancing-firefly-insights.html#inlRlv

Stanger-Hall, Kathrin F., James E. Lloyd, David M. Hillis. 2007. Phylogeny of North American fireflies (Coleoptera: Lampyridae): Implications for the evolution of light signals. In Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 45 (2007) 33-49. http://www.bio-nica.info/biblioteca/stangerhall2007fireflies.pdf

Utah State University Insect Collection has over 117 cabinets housing approximately two million pinned insects and 35,000 microscope slides. Location: Room 240, Biology and Natural Resources Bldg.; Telephone: 435-797-0358
https://www.usu.edu/biology/research/insect-holdings/

Clayton Gefre, Sparks Fly: Researchers track firefly populations across Utah, The Herald Journal, https://news.hjnews.com/allaccess/sparks-fly-researchers-track-firefly-populations-across-utah/article_270ac8b9-3d3f-5a01-9b5b-ac22e89a54bb.html

Natalie Crofts, New Website Tracks Utah Firefly Sightings, KSL, https://www.ksl.com/article/34439516