Butterfly Pavilion’s Firefly Life Cycle Project is Helping to Expand Populations of Colorado Fireflies

Butterfly Pavilion Conservationists are Studying Colorado Fireflies Through Hand-rearing

There are several invertebrate conservation projects that are being conducted every day by Butterfly Pavilion – and they don’t just involve butterflies. Fireflies are another charismatic invertebrate that our researchers work with, and Colorado has its own native species. A majority of the fireflies in this state are “dark”, or non-glowing. However, there are at least one species of “glowing” fireflies that can be spotted lighting up the night sky, as well as a few genera of “flashing” fireflies. These luminous invertebrates belong to the beetle order, Coleoptera, and they use their iconic flashing patterns to communicate with one another. Their radiant light displays make these beetles a favorite among people of all ages, often kindling memories of childhood and warm summer nights.

Fireflies are an indicator species, meaning their population numbers represent the health of ecosystems and the many organisms that live within them. With limited population numbers throughout our state, Butterfly Pavilion took the initiative in 2017 to start researching these unique beetles and how we can expand their populations in the wild. In 2021, as part of Butterfly Pavilion’s Firefly Life Cycle Project, we collected adult fireflies and bred them under human care, and have reared larvae from the resulting eggs produced by the females.  Our goal is to rear those larvae to adulthood and continue the cycle, with a long-term goal to rear the young past their vulnerable early stages and release larger individuals to help create or restore new populations in the wild.

Little is known about the life cycle of fireflies, and it has only been intermittently accomplished in academia. Our goal is to understand the husbandry and rearing of these beetles to create a set of industry best practices and opportunities for a unique, outdoor zoo exhibit. Meeting this goal will enable Butterfly Pavilion to become an industry leader of invertebrate husbandry. This can also support the reintroduction of native species that have been otherwise lost to habitat destruction. After a brief interruption from the global pandemic that halted the study, the Firefly Life Cycle Project has started up again. Our researchers are working to hand-rear these beetles from their larval stage to their final adult stage. We hope to establish husbandry practices along the way that will teach us more about the way Colorado fireflies live and survive in the wild.

Conservation projects like our Firefly Life Cycle Project exist to help provide our community, and beyond, with expert knowledge about invertebrates and their conservation. Educating our community helps people foster an appreciation for the small and underappreciated organisms that we affectionately call, Tiny Giants. One day, Butterfly Pavilion hopes to display fireflies at our facility for our community to see up close and learn more about these special invertebrates. You can learn more about all of our conservationists and the work that they do for invertebrate conservation here!