this post was submitted on 06 Mar 2025
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Science Memes

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Lightning bugs!! (mander.xyz)
submitted 3 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 41 points 3 days ago (2 children)

I grew up calling them lightning bugs, and I'm so excited to see a thread full of people calling them the same!

[–] [email protected] 25 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Fireflies is a much cooler name though.

[–] Sculptor9157 13 points 3 days ago (2 children)

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Anybody tries to kill you, you try and kill 'em right back.

[–] starman2112 4 points 3 days ago

Shiny

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 days ago (2 children)

In German, they're Glühwürmchen ("glow worms").

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Wait hold up, in Dutch we have glimwormen ("shimmer worms" ) but those don't fly! They're actual bioluminecent worms.

Aren't German Glühwürmchen the same thing?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago

Glühwürmchen definitely refers to the flying variant. Might also refer to non flying species but I’ve never seen or heard anyone talk about any of those. The term is probably just used for any type of glowing insect, no matter if worm or bug.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago

Interesting, interesting. We call the female lightning bugs here glow worms because they are wingless, but today I'm learning that is not the case for all species!

Also Glühwürmchen is a cute word.