A lightning bug, but other than the Tampa Bay Hockey Club mascot, I haven't seen one in years. They simply don't exist down here.

A lightning bug, but other than the Tampa Bay Hockey Club mascot, I haven't seen one in years. They simply don't exist down here.

 

I was at a cookout with a handful of my wife's co-residents a couple of weeks ago. One of them, a guy from Gainesville, commented after it got dark that he'd never seen a "firefly" until he moved here to Kentucky. I told them they're called lightning bugs around here. All of the other folks from the midwest agreed, and everyone from New England and out west said they're called fireflies.

Corn fly.

Lightning bug

I was at a cookout with a handful of my wife's co-residents a couple of weeks ago. One of them, a guy from Gainesville, commented after it got dark that he'd never seen a "firefly" until he moved here to Kentucky. I told them they're called lightning bugs around here. All of the other folks from the midwest agreed, and everyone from New England and out west said they're called fireflies.

 

 

Okay, now that's part of the reason why I asked this question. Had a friend on Facebook the other post one of those things "Where I'm from, we..." and one of the things was "we call fireflies lightning bugs." While I had heard the term firefly before, I got to thinking that I've never really heard anyone actually call them that. So, didn't know if it was a regional thing or not. Thanks CWB!

Growing up in Maryland they were fireflies. I've been a lightning bug convert for decades, though.