QuestionCommon eastern firefly
Are There Fireflies in Europe? Glow-Worms and Flashing Species
Yes. Europe has several dozen firefly species, all beetles in the family Lampyridae. The best known is the common glow-worm, whose wingless females glow steadily in grassland on summer nights. Flashing fireflies like North America’s lightning bugs live mainly in southern Europe, especially Italy, where Luciola fireflies light up fields and woods in early summer.
Contents
How many fireflies live in Europe?
Fireflies are found worldwide in temperate and tropical regions, with roughly 2,000 described species. One recent review counted 64 species in continental Europe, but only a handful are widespread. Four are usually named as the most common and widely distributed:
| Species | Common name | How it signals |
|---|---|---|
| Lampyris noctiluca | Common glow-worm | Wingless female glows steadily |
| Lamprohiza splendidula | Central European firefly | Males glow while flying; flightless females glow |
| Phosphaenus hemipterus | Lesser glow-worm | Weak glow; flightless males find females by scent |
| Luciola lusitanica | A Mediterranean flashing firefly | Flying males and females flash |
Northern Europe has the fewest species. Britain has only two that are regularly recorded, the common and lesser glow-worms, and glow-worm reports from Ireland have not been confirmed.
The common glow-worm
The common glow-worm (Lampyris noctiluca) is the classic European firefly, found from Portugal and Britain east across Europe and Asia to China, and further north than any other firefly, almost to the Arctic Circle. Despite its name it is a beetle, not a worm.
Males and females look completely different. Males are slim, brown, winged beetles with large eyes and rarely glow. Females, about 15–20 mm (0.6–0.8 in) long and occasionally up to 25 mm (1 in), have no wings and look like larvae. On summer nights a female climbs a grass stem, curls her abdomen upward and shines a steady yellow-green light from her last abdominal segments. Males flying overhead home in on her glow, and she switches it off once she has mated.
Adults cannot feed. All the feeding is done by the larvae, which hunt snails and slugs in grass and leaf litter for one to three years. A larva bites its prey repeatedly, injecting a digestive fluid that paralyzes it, then drinks the liquefied tissue. The prey can be many times heavier than the larva.
Glow-worms favor chalk and limestone grassland, hedge banks, woodland rides, heaths, cliffs and old railway lines. They are rarely found on heavily fertilized farmland.
The central European firefly
The central European firefly, or small glow-worm (Lamprohiza splendidula), is common in parts of central Europe, including Germany, Switzerland, Austria and neighboring countries. Unlike the common glow-worm, its males, about 10 mm (0.4 in) long, glow brightly as they fly at dusk, so a woodland edge can fill with drifting points of light. The females have only tiny wing stumps, cannot fly and shine from several light spots on the body. It is not a British species: it is known there only from two old specimens collected in 1884.
The lesser glow-worm
The lesser glow-worm (Phosphaenus hemipterus) is a small, inconspicuous firefly about 6–10 mm (0.25–0.4 in) long. Both sexes are flightless, and the males have only short wing covers. Adults glow only faintly, and males find females mainly by following their scent, often in daylight. It occurs from the Mediterranean through central Europe to the edge of Scandinavia, is rare in England, and has been introduced to parts of North America.
Flashing fireflies of Italy and southern Europe
Southern Europe has true flashing fireflies of the genus Luciola. Unlike glow-worms, both sexes have full wings, and males flash as they fly. In Italy, fireflies called lucciole appear in late spring and early summer, especially in May and June, over meadows, fields, woodland edges and damp valleys.
The Italian species are usually named Luciola italica and Luciola lusitanica, although experts still debate whether these are two species or forms of one. Related Luciola fireflies occur in Spain, Portugal, southern France and the Balkans.
Fireflies have a long history in Italian culture. Dante compared the flames in one of the ditches of Hell to the fireflies a peasant sees in a valley at dusk, and in 1975 the writer Pier Paolo Pasolini wrote a famous essay about the disappearance of fireflies from the Italian countryside.
How European fireflies differ from American ones
North America east of the Rockies is dominated by flashing “lightning bugs” such as the common eastern firefly, in which winged males and females exchange coded flashes. North of the Alps, Europe’s fireflies are mostly glowers, with flightless females that shine steadily and males that home in on them.
The chemistry is the same in both: an enzyme called luciferase makes a compound called luciferin give off light. How that works, and why some fireflies flash while others glow, is explained in why fireflies glow.
When and where to see fireflies in Europe
In Britain and northern Europe, look for glow-worms from late May to early September, with the best displays in June and July. Females start glowing as dusk turns to darkness, around the time you can no longer see colors in the landscape, and shine for a few hours. Warm, still, dry nights after a sunny day are best. Glow-worms are traditionally linked with midsummer: their Estonian name, jaanimardikas, means St. John’s beetle.
In southern Europe, flashing Luciola fireflies are best seen in late spring and early summer. Wherever you look, keep flashlights off or dimmed, stay on paths, and leave the insects where they are.
Are European fireflies declining?
Many European populations appear to be declining. The common glow-worm was assessed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List in 2024. Threats include the loss and fragmentation of grassland, pesticides, pollution, light pollution, too little grazing on old grasslands and climate change. Research has shown that even low levels of artificial light can stop male glow-worms from finding females. The wider picture is explained in are fireflies disappearing.
Frequently asked questions
Are there fireflies in the UK?
Yes, but not flashing ones. Britain's main species is the common glow-worm, whose wingless females glow steadily in grassland on summer nights. A second, much rarer species, the lesser glow-worm, also occurs in England.
Is a glow-worm a worm?
No. The European glow-worm is a beetle in the firefly family. It got its name because the glowing females have no wings and look like larvae, so they resemble a glowing worm in the grass.
When is glow-worm season?
In Britain and much of northern Europe, female glow-worms glow from late May to early September, with most sightings in June and July. They start shining as dusk turns to darkness and glow for a few hours on warm nights.
Where can you see flashing fireflies in Europe?
Mainly in southern Europe. Italy is the best-known place, where Luciola fireflies flash over meadows, woodland edges and stream banks in late spring and early summer, especially in May and June.
Are there fireflies in Germany?
Yes. Germany has the common glow-worm and the central European firefly, Lamprohiza splendidula, whose small males glow brightly as they fly over woodland edges and gardens on early summer nights.
Are European glow-worms endangered?
The common glow-worm was assessed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List in 2024. It is still widespread, but it has declined in many places because of habitat loss, pesticides, light pollution and changes in grassland management.
Sources and further reading
- IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, "Lampyris noctiluca"
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Firefly"
- De Cock, R., "Larval and adult emission spectra of bioluminescence in three European firefly species", Photochemistry and Photobiology 79 (2004)
Cite this page
“Are There Fireflies in Europe? Glow-Worms and Flashing Species.” Animal Atlas, https://animals.bigworldlist.com/questions/are-there-fireflies-in-europe/.
