When Plastic Tubs and Trays Block the Soil
How covered yards and paved garden beds stop fireflies from digging in the dirt, and what you can do about it.
34,384
Sightings logged
348
Species reported
19,891
Locations mapped
The living map
Where they still glow
Each pulse is a confirmed sighting shared by someone like you. Tap anywhere on the map to drop a pin for a place you've seen fireflies, then add the details below.
Dark map tiles from CARTO / OpenStreetMap. Use the layers menu to switch base maps, the location button to jump to your location, or click anywhere to geo-tag a sighting.
Add your light
Log a sighting
Only log fireflies you saw yourself and are confident about. Confirmed, careful records are what make this data worth protecting a place over.
Not sure what you saw?
An unidentified sighting is still valuable data. Note the flash colour, rhythm, and habitat — experts can often ID from that.
You can also just click a spot on the map above to fill this in.
Straight from your phone is fine — it's shrunk on your device before uploading, and the location tag baked into the file is removed.
Used once, to tell you your sighting is live, then deleted. Never shown on the map or shared.
Know what you saw
A field guide to living light
Over 2,000 firefly species glow worldwide — beetles, not flies. Each genus has its own flash "language." Here are the ones you're most likely to meet.
art farmer from evansville indiana, usa · CC BY-SA 2.0
Common eastern
Photinus pyralis
The classic backyard 'lightning bug'. Males trace a distinctive J-shaped swoop with a warm yellow flash on summer evenings.
Read the full profile →Mangrove synchronous
Pteroptyx spp.
Southeast Asia's marvel — thousands gather in mangrove trees and flash in unison, whole trees pulsing together like a heartbeat.
Read the full profile →Asian firefly
Luciola spp.
Widespread across Asia's rice paddies and rivers. Quick, greenish flashes low over water and wet fields at dusk.
Read the full profile →
Didier Descouens · CC BY-SA 4.0
Common glow-worm
Lampyris noctiluca
The wingless female glows a steady green from the grass to call flying males — a continuous lantern, not a flash.
Read the full profile →
Aggyrolemnoixytes · CC BY-SA 4.0
Blue ghost
Phausis reticulata
Instead of blinking, males drift low through Appalachian forests holding a steady, eerie blue-white light.
Read the full profile →
Jacy Lucier · CC BY-SA 4.0
Little gray firefly
Photinus marginellus
A small eastern firefly that blinks from shrubs and low branches at dusk in high summer.
Read the full profile →
Silk666 · CC BY-SA 3.0
Spring treetop flasher
Pyractomena borealis
Often the first firefly of the year in North America, flashing amber high in the trees in spring.
Read the full profile →
Kryp · CC0
Lesser glow-worm
Lamprohiza splendidula
In this European glow-worm the flying male shines too, drifting through warm woods with a steady light.
Read the full profile →1 / 3
Field notes
Latest firefly stories
Short, plain-language reads about the fireflies people are finding — where they glow, why they glow, and what helps them survive.
Why Firefly Tails Don't Burn
A look at the map shows winter fireflies and glow-worms glowing in the dark, using a chemical trick that makes light without heat.
Visiting Fireflies in Tai Po Kau
Discover the fireflies of Tai Po Kau in Hong Kong through the hidden life of the larva, and learn how to spot them safely.
Not All Fireflies Glow Green
Some fireflies glow green, some glow yellow, and some even glow orange. Here's why.
Firefly Light Isn't Hot
A light bulb gets hot, but a firefly's light stays cool. That's why scientists call it "cold light."
People Enter a Lottery Just to See Fireflies
In the Great Smoky Mountains, thousands of fireflies flash together, and so many people want to see it that the park gives out passes by lottery.
Watch & read
The firefly feed
Films, footage, photos, and reading about fireflies and the people working to save them. A calm place to fall back in love with the light.
Video
Not All Fireflies Glow Green
Some fireflies glow green, some glow yellow, and some even glow orange. Here's why.
Alitaptap.org
Reading
Fireflies are disappearing — here's why
The leading invertebrate-conservation group on the threats fireflies face and their work to protect them.
Read at Xerces Society →
Video
Firefly Light Isn't Hot
A light bulb gets hot, but a firefly's light stays cool. That's why scientists call it "cold light."
Alitaptap.org
Reading
How to make your yard a firefly haven
Practical, tonight-actionable steps: lighting, water, leaf litter, and skipping the pesticides.
Read at Firefly Conservation & Research →
Video
People Enter a Lottery Just to See Fireflies
In the Great Smoky Mountains, thousands of fireflies flash together, and so many people want to see it that the park gives out passes by lottery.
Alitaptap.org
Reading
Fireflies of Southeast Asia's mangroves
The synchronous mangrove fireflies (Pteroptyx) that gather in riverside trees across the region.
Read at Encyclopaedia / research →
1 / 7
Gathering fireflies from Wikimedia Commons…
Why it matters
What's putting the light out
Firefly decline isn't a mystery — scientists have named the causes, and each one is something people can act on.
01
Light pollution
Fireflies flash to find mates. Artificial light at night drowns out their signals, so they can't find each other and can't breed. It's the threat most directly tied to the glow itself, and the one a single porch light can worsen or a single dark yard can ease.
02
Habitat loss
Larvae need damp ground, whether riverbanks, wetlands, mangroves or leaf litter, for the year or more they spend growing before they ever glow. Drainage, development, and tidy lawns erase exactly the messy wet places they depend on.
03
Pesticides
Firefly larvae are ground predators that eat snails, slugs, and worms. Broad-spectrum insecticides kill the larvae directly and wipe out the prey they need. Gardens kept chemical-free become refuges.
04
Water pollution
Many larvae grow in or beside streams, marshes, and rice paddies, tied to the water around them. Fertiliser runoff, sewage, and chemical spills poison these nurseries long before the adults would ever light up.
05
Climate change
Drought dries out the damp ground larvae depend on, and heat and shifting seasons throw off the timing of their brief adult glow. Rising seas and fiercer storms are eroding the mangroves where synchronous fireflies gather.
06
How you help
Turn off outdoor lights in summer. Leave part of a yard wild and damp. Skip the pesticides. Don't over-collect. And log what you see here — protection follows data, and a place nobody recorded is a place nobody defends.
Further reading: Firefly Conservation & ResearchLight pollutionXerces SocietyFirefly Atlas
Support the project
Help keep the fireflies mapped
Alitaptap is a volunteer, not-for-profit effort. Donations keep the map online first — the domain, the hosting and the sightings database. Whatever they cover beyond that goes to community firefly-watching drives and to students and researchers.
What donations pay for now
- A live domain and reliable hosting
- Servers and the sightings database
What they fund once that is covered
- Community firefly-watching drives and campaigns
- Supporting students and researchers
- …and everything else it takes to protect the glow
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Suggestions & bug reports
Spotted something broken, or have an idea to make the map better? Tell us. It goes straight to the team.