Endangered status: endangered

Region: Delaware and Maryland, U.S.A

Threats: Pollution, and climate change and severe weather

References:

• Entomology Today (2013) New Firefly Species Discovered in Delaware. By Entomology Today. From entomologytoday.org

• IUCN Red List (2021) Mysterious Lantern Firefly. Fallon, C. & Heckscher, C . From iucnredlist.org

• NatureServe Explorer (2021) Photuris mysticalampus / Mysterious Lantern Firefly. From explorer.natureserve.org

• National Library of Medicine (2021). Evaluating firefly extinction risk: Initial red list assessments for North America. By Candance E. Fallon. From ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

The Mysterious Lantern Firefly (Photuris mysticalampus) was only just discovered in 2013 in Delaware, USA. Changes to habitat, either a loss due to human development or increased severe storms due to climate change, along with light pollution, and environmental pollution all lead to the firefly being endangered. Light pollution affects the fireflies for mating, and degradation to their habitat affects larvae development and then adult life expectancy.