firefly

 

or lightning bug, small, luminescent, carnivorous beetle of the family Lampyridae. Fireflies are well represented in temperate regions, although the majority of species are tropical and subtropical. They are nocturnal in their behavior, and males commonly fly about in the evening during early summer. In many species the females are wingless. Males, females, and larvae emit a heatless, greenish-yellow to reddish-orange light; in some species even the eggs glow. The light, believed to play a role in sexual attraction between the adults, is produced by light organs located on the underside of the abdomen. These consist of several layers of small reflector cells and a layer of light-producing cells. The light-producing cells are permeated by nerves and air tubes; oxygen supplied by the air tubes converts the cell product luciferin to oxyluciferin. This oxidation, catalyzed by the enzyme luciferase, releases energy in the form of light. The insect controls the emission of light by regulating the amount of air supplied to the cells. The intensity and frequency of the flashes vary with the species and probably serve to identify males and females to each other. Synchronized flashing is characteristic of some tropical species. Adult fireflies of many species do not feed. The larvae, which hatch from eggs laid on or in wet soil, feed on snails and earthworms, injecting their prey with a paralyzing fluid. Pupation (see insect) occurs after one or two years. Both larvae and wingless females are called glowworms. The common European glowworm is the female of the Lampyris noctiluca. Asian glowworms are considered beneficial controllers of crop-damaging snails and slugs. There are other luminescent insects, including members of other beetle families; the most spectacular are found in the click beetle family. Fireflies are classified in the phylum Arthropoda, class Insecta, order Coleoptera, family Lampyridae.

Firefly is a common name for a bioluminescent beetle in the Lampyridae family.

Firefly may also refer to:

Media and fiction

Film and television

• Firefly (TV series), a TV program created by Joss Whedon
  • Firefly (soundtrack), the soundtrack to the aforementioned TV series
• Firefly (film), a 2005 independent film directed by Pete Marcy
• Fireflies (TV series), a 2004 Australian TV series
• The Firefly, the 1937 film adaptation of the Rudolf Friml operetta
• Firefly's Adventure, alternate title of My Little Pony (pilot episode)

Books

• Firefly, a science fiction novel by Piers Anthony
• Fireflies, a memoir by David Morrell
• Grave of the Fireflies, a Japanese novel and book about two children during the bombing of Japan during World War II

Characters

• Firefly (comics), a character in the Batman comic book universe
• Firefly (Archie Comics), a character in the Archie comic book universe
• Firefly (G.I. Joe), a character in the G.I. Joe comic book universe
• Rob Zombie's Firefly family:
  • Captain Spaulding
  • Baby
  • Otis B. Driftwood
  • Mother Firefly
  • Grandpa Hugo
  • Tiny
  • Rufus Jr.

Music

Groups

• Fire Flies, an American rock band based in New York City
• Fireflies, a Finnish rock band

Albums/operettas

• Fireflies (Faith Hill album), a 2005 album by the American country music singer
• Firefly (album), a 1977 album by the British rock band Uriah Heep
• Firefly (TNT album), a 1997 album by the Norwegian heavy metal band
• The Firefly, a 1912 operetta by Rudolf Friml

Songs

• "Firefly", a song by Mike Oldfield on his Tres Lunas album
• "Firefly", a song by Saves the Day
• "Firefly", a song by Breaking Benjamin
• "Euphoria (Firefly)", a song by Delerium
• "Firefly", a song by A*Teens
• "Firefly", a song by UK band InMe
• "Firefly", a song by J-pop band BeForU
• "Fireflies", a song by Johanna Kunin
• "Farewell, Firefly", a song by Chinese Pop Star Faye Wong

Record Labels

• Firefly Sessions, a record label

In transportation

In aviation

• Firefly (airline), subsidiary of Malaysia Airlines
• Fairey Firefly, a British reconnaissance/fighter aircraft
• Ryan AQM-91 Firefly, an American unmanned reconnaissance aircraft
• Slingsby T-67 Firefly, a British built light training aircraft

In rail

• Firefly (locomotive), a steam locomotive operated by the Orange and Alexandria Railroad
• Firefly (passenger train), operated by the St. Louis - San Francisco Railway
• GWR Firefly Class, a class of steam locomotive on the Great Western Railway

Vehicles

• Firefly (dinghy), a sailing dinghy
• Pontiac Firefly, a subcompact automobile based on the Suzuki Swift
• Sherman Firefly, a British variant of the M4 Sherman military tank

In technology

• Firefly (mobile phone), a wireless phone designed for children
• Firefly (protocol), a security protocol used in telephony
• FireFly (Emergency Strobe Signal Light), a rescue strobe light used to locate lost persons
• FireFly (Wireless Seismic Acquisition System), an Input/Output system for recording seismic acoustic data in environments where cabled networks are prohibitive or impossible to use

In computing

• Firefly BSD, a computer operating system forked from FreeBSD
• Firefly Media Server, an open source media server for the Roku SoundBridge and iTunes
• Firefly (website), an online community developed in the late 1990's
• Firefly (video game), a video game by Jonathan Smith
• DEC Firefly, the first successful multiprocessor workstation architecture implementation
• Firefly Studios, a London based computer game developer
• Firefly (firefox extension), an extension that lets you use Firefox as a File Manager

Organizations

• Firefly AB, a Swedish manufacturer of fire and dust explosion protection systems
• Firefly Arts Collective, a New England regional burning event
• Firefly Brigade, a Philippine environmentalist group advocating the use of bicycles
• Firefly Tonics, an English producer of fruit juice drinks with added herbal extracts
• Fireflies Festival of Sacred Music, an annual music festival held at the Fireflies Ashram

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