During the day, night-flying fireflies like this Photinus pyralis sleep under leaves or in other inconspicuous hideouts. Urbana, Illinois, USA
The flash pattern of synchronous firefly males is a series of about 6 pulses emitted in a line during flight. The insects do not synchronize their signals so much as their periods of darkness, during which the males look for faint female return signalling. Thus, the forest alternates between waves of darkness and intense sparkling. Gatlinburg, Tennessee, USA.