The first-ever checklist of fireflies has documented 92 species of the magical lightning bugs in India.
A team of researchers working over the last couple of years recorded all the known species of Coleoptera: Lampyridae and found that they are distributed across four subfamilies.
The report titled “A Checklist of Fireflies from India” was published in Zootaxa on March 10 and comes at a time when firefly populations have been declining due to rapid urbanisation, increased use of pesticides and rising levels of artificial night lighting.
Experts from the Environmental Management and Policy Research Institute (EMPRI), Department of Zoology at the University of Calcutta, the Microbes, Parasites and Biodiversity Initiative, the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Michigan, and the Zoological Survey of India, along with individual domain experts, collated literature over a period of two years. They also assessed studies published between 1881 and October 2025 while compiling the report.
The report reveals that Indian firefly fauna comprises 60.86 per cent endemic species. Luciolinae was found to be the dominant subfamily (37 species), followed by Ototretinae (31), Lampyrinae (17) and Cyphonocerinae (one). Luciolinae and Ototretinae are also the most diverse subfamilies, with 11 firefly genera each. Most firefly species found in India have been recorded from more than one state.
The checklist shows that the Western Ghats have the highest occurrence of firefly species at 25.33 per cent, followed by the North East, Gangetic Plain, Coast and Deccan Peninsula at 22.66 per cent, 17.33 per cent and 13.33 per cent respectively. The Trans-Himalayas and Himalayas each account for 1.33 per cent of firefly occurrences, while the Islands account for 2.66 per cent. Desert and semi-arid regions were the only zones where no fireflies were recorded.
According to Parvez, lead author of the report, there are over 2,600 species of fireflies worldwide but only about 10 per cent of them have been scientifically studied. However, in India, biological research on fireflies has been limited and very little literature is available.
“There is a strong need to protect the species and understand their importance. They play a crucial role in the ecology and food chain, much like honeybees. We have created three firefly identification centres — one in Delhi and two in Kerala — where details of as many species as possible are being collected and documented. We are also creating a repository of firefly specimens of all the species found in India,” he said.
To draw attention to fireflies and support young scientists, experts from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) have been working with Indian researchers and experts from EMPRI. A Firefly Asian Association under the Sustainable Wildlife Biodiversity Conservation Association has also been formed.
Experts note in the report that nationwide studies aimed at understanding the bioecology and conservation of fireflies, with national and international collaboration, are the need of the hour. To ensure the preservation of firefly habitats, it is crucial to conduct monitoring studies to determine their abundance.
This information can then be used to establish Firefly Heritage Sites, Firefly Sanctuaries or Firefly Bioparks, allowing fireflies to be conserved in their natural environments, the report said.
According to Prof A.K. Chakravarthy of EMPRI, fireflies are highly sensitive and serve as indicator species.
“They indicate climatic and environmental health, particularly the pristine state of ecosystems, much like damselflies. Their decline would mean that the environment has lost a ‘canary in the coal mine’, while also pointing to the fact that soil and water may have become toxic, eventually affecting human health,” he said.
Fireflies are also medically important as the luciferase enzyme they produce is used in the medical field for the detection of cancer cells. They are also used to mark genes in the human body, detect bacterial contamination in food and develop non-invasive imaging techniques for heart disease. Losing the natural source of these chemical templates could stall future biotechnological innovations.
Since they are voracious feeders, particularly during the larval and adult stages, fireflies also play an important role in agriculture.
“Their decline over time can have a cascading effect on the food chain, which needs to be addressed immediately. They also help promote tourism. In countries like Japan, Malaysia, Bali and Indonesia, firefly tourism is a million-dollar ecotourism sector. While this exists on a small scale in isolated pockets of the Western Ghats, it needs to be expanded across the country to conserve the species and rekindle people’s interest,” Parvez said.