India’s 1st Comprehensive Checklist of Fireflies:
Scientists compiled the first-of-its-kind checklist of Indian fireflies using more than 260 years of scattered scientific records, including documentation from 1881 to 2025, identifying 92 species across 27 genera.The checklist was created to address the lack of accessible modern literature on Indian fireflies and serve as a foundational reference for future taxonomic research.More than 60% of the documented species are endemic to India. Notably, over 50 species have not been recorded again since their original descriptions in the 1800s.The study mapped firefly occurrences across 22 States and one Union Territory. The Western Ghats emerged as the richest habitat with 25.33% of species, followed by the North East (22.66%), Gangetic Plain (17.33%), and the Deccan Peninsula (13.33%). No fireflies were recorded in Desert and Semi-Arid zones.Fireflies, often mistaken for flies or bugs, are actually soft-bodied beetles belonging to the family Lampyridae, within the order Coleoptera (beetles). They are renowned for their remarkable ability to produce light through bioluminescence.
