Report of searches for fireflies and glow worms in Portugal, 2006, by Gonçalo Appleton Figueira

In 2006 I paid more attention to fireflies and glow worms.

First time that I saw adult specimens was in the beginning of April in a pinewood in Monsanto Forest Reserve in Lisbon. It was almost midnight, and the air was pleasant and aromatic ( many flowers were blooming) and I suddenly saw a light out of the corner of my eye… First I thought that I was seeing things, but when I paid more attention I realized that was a male of Luciola lusitanica that was flying and flashing!

I became even more happy and after that I saw one more and another and more…

They were all males, but that’s normal when the season is starting because males appear first, then later, the females start to glow as well.

Then on the same week I went to another place ( Ericeira) and there were only few males active.

Later in mid April I went again to Monsanto Reserve, and Luciola lusitanica were even more abundant, appearing from many spots of the forest and avoiding curiously open spaces.

Didn´t see any females though…

In the end of April there were many hundreds. It was amazing to see all those lights!

Then under a bush I saw also a steady green light, but I couldn´t reach it to see what it was.

The first females started finally to appear. The female lights are slightly different flashing a trembling light. The colour of the light is like the males and larvae, yellow.

In the beginning of May, the number of fireflies in this forest in Lisbon, were hundreds.

Then on the middle of the month I went to Ericeira and there I saw not hundred but thousands! They were on the open fields near the beach ( having the opposite behaviour of Lisbon populations), on the Mediterranean bushland and on semi-abandoned wine tree field!

I saw also another steady green light but couldn´t see again what it was! It was hidden behind thorny Rubus fruticosus bush. I saw also some different flashing fireflies, but with different flash and they flew worse than L lusitanica, showing their light display at no more than 1.5 m from the ground…

Then later at night ( 2 am) I saw Lampyris sp. larvae and some Luciola lusitanica larvae as well, glowing intermittently on the herbs near a small pond.

On the end of May, I went again to Monsanto forest reserve, and L. lusitanica were slightly less numerous, and I saw a female of Lamprohiza sp near a pine tree ( Pinus pinea)! She had a strong green light with 2 big bars like Lampyris but also some smaller green lights on the lateral sides. The insect itself had a body divided by brown, orangish and brownish parts.

Here I saw also some L. lusitanica males but fewer than on the previous two places that I described.

At the beginning of June the number of fireflies started to decline, ( more early than usual maybe due to the dry spring), in Monsanto and in Ericeira, but in Sintra mountain (about 20 km from Lisbon) the numbers start to increase near a small river, that had many ferns, pine trees, Eucalyptus globulus, Equisetum sp, etc and a big amount of leaf litter, on both sides of the small river…

I went there at about 21.00 pm and could see an astonishing display, with hundreds of flashing lights! The flash light differs between individuals and situations, some glow very fast, others very slow, other show a continuous light!

On my small farm in this mountain I had the luck to spot these yellow light fireflies and also again Lamprohiza females! Later on the end on June, I met with Raphael de Cock here in Portugal and we did small firefly transect in my country!

First place Arrabida, the place on which are known 5 different species: Lampyris raymondi, Lampyris noctiluca, Nyctophila reichii, Lamprohiza paulinoi and Luciola lusitanica. When we went the fields were really dry, we only spot some L. Lusitanica and later a glowing female of Lampyris noctiluca on the sides of a footpath.

Then we went to Mamede mountain to search for a rare firefly P. metzneri, but we found some big Nyctophila reichii males instead that came to the light trap and we found a glowing female of L. noctiluca on a stone wall near a road and some larvae as well near a small pond later at night. This place is very dark and so the sky showed a beautiful display of stars.

Then we went to Estrela mountain, and at 1500 metres above sea level we found some L. noctiluca males and a female near a road. On a valley we found a big N. reichii female,showing a big green light in 5 spots, her body is pink and yellow! There we attracted L. noctiluca males with our light traps. I saw a firefly with a steady light flying that landed on my t-shirt but unfortunately when I tried to catch him he flew away, so I can only wonder that could be a Lamprohiza male. We know about the existence of Phosphaenus hemipterus on this place, because they were recorded here in May of 1999.

Later we went further north to near the Spanish border to Montesinho mountain, and we found some males of N. reichii and L. noctiluca on a valley near a river. After being some hours searching without success, I found 1 glowing female of L. noctiluca and a N. reichii near her on the camping site!

Then we went to Peneda Geres, a beautiful place with an humid cloudforest cover on which it rains on average about 3,5 meters of rain yearly. Here we found some glowing females on a path ( it had some faint white artificiall lights) of L. noctiluca and later many males inside the forest. We know about the existence of more species on this place but we didn´t saw them. This was the last place of the transect.

Later on mid July I found some beautiful females of N. Reichii in Monsanto reserve in Lisbon. Then I went again to Ericeira, and L. noctiluca started to appear there, I saw females appearing soon right after sunset and the males flying over them!

Once I caught a female, a male come to my hand and mate with her right on the middle of my palm!

In Sintra L. lusitanica started finally to end their season, I only saw some males. In Lisbon , I only saw the last males and females of this orange and black firefly. On the contrary L. noctiluca start to increase their numbers turning more abundant and showing their big green light!

Then in August I only saw some glow worms ( L. noctiluca) and some larvae late at night.

In the end of September I went to larvae hunt in Ericeira, and I caught 3 different larvae: Lampyris raymondi, L. noctiluca and Luciola lusitanica. They were crawling near the bushes on the leaflitter searching for slugs and snails.

Some days later I went to North Portugal, to Gaia Biologic Park and I found 3 diferent larvae showing a spectacular light display ( hundreds of specimens) : Lamprohiza sp, this larva have a lot of lights I counted on one specimen 15 lights and some may have even more ( it varies between individuals). They were crawling on the leaf litter along with L. noctiluca larvae and L. lusitanica. The forest was mainly of Quercus tree species.

The humus layer was well developed and slugs and snails were abundant there.

Fortunately was when the first autumn rains started to drop and so the firefly larvae started to come out from the places that they hatched some months ago in big numbers!

It was also nice to see a variation of light display happening at the same time! The light conditions were dark, and the larvae were active until late hours; I left the forest at 4 am and they were still active! I saw a place there that only showed light display of Lampyris noctiluca, very interesting... Maybe they have favourite places as most Lampyridae species are known as using lot of particular suitable micro-habitats.

I went to Gaia 1 month later and saw fewer larvae, maybe because only the strongest managed to survive. In Lisbon, in garden I saw in November a N. reichii larva at 3 am, she showed a pair of green light organs a bit more separated from each other than L. noctiluca.

In the beginning of December I went to there to end the firefly year, and I saw some Lamprohiza larva, only 1 big L. noctiluca larva ( near a wall) and many Luciola lusitanica. These all were seen in pinewood, oak forest and near stone walls.

Some days later I went to Trofa, to search specifically for Phosphaenus hemipterus, as this species has only 3 records on my country, being the last one, done in May of 2005, exactly on the place on which I made my research, Trofa.

I spent 3 days there, on which José Grosso-Silva received me and gave me important informations about his finding of Phosphaenus hemipterus.

I went there with him to see the place and search for larvae, and I was surprised to see that the place was quite unlike to be the perfect place for such a rare specie…Near one of the principal traffic roads of the country, on the lateral side of an agriculture field, near some bushes with some artificiall light influence!

The first 2 nights I didn´t found any, only saw a faint green light on a forest nearby and when I made a look with the torch light and found to be a glowing earthworm!

After an almost exhausting search and with the rainy weather, I made one last search right before leave again to my home, in Lisbon, about more than 300 km from. I was already with all my clothes on my car, so it was the last chance. I did my last search on the place that José Grosso Silva showed to me, even if I went there already twice to search for this particular glowing beetle without sucess.

I saw that the weather was amenable but rainy and a bit windy, someone was working on the traffic road pointing some big lights to the place that I was about to make my work, the soil was only mud and water, well my feet were already all wet, so it wasn´t big problem to me and I solely want to take my last chance there: I looked for the darkest spots, above water level and for big stones, and when I lifted a big stone... There I saw a strong green light!! At first, I didn´t wanted to make a big party at all,because of recent disappointments and I only wanted to be sure about what animal made that light, so I picked up my spoon, took off a bit of soil trying to include the green light, but when I put there the spoon the light turned off… Oh, well, I felt a bit bad, knocking on the ground and waiting for a response , but not at all few seconds later when the light turned on again but this time from my spoon! Suddenly I pointed my torch light to it, and saw the small greyish larva of a Phosphaenus hemipterus! I felt very pleased for my finding it really made a lot worth my visit to this far place.

I hope that everyone that read this, think about that many good things may happen if you give your best!

Later in Lisbon, already in the end of December, with cool and clear night I saw some Luciola larva in Monsanto reserve, turning more abundant when the weather turned more wet in January.

I hope to do this year of 2007 an even more complete research.

Gonçalo Appleton Figueira ( Lisbon, Portugal)