News release

From: The Royal Society

A true Luciolinae fossil from the mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber provides new insights into the early evolution of fireflies (Coleoptera: Lampyridae)

A 99-million-year-old firefly fossil has been discovered preserved in amber, providing the oldest known evidence of these luminous beetles. The specimen, named Cretoluciola birmana, features a distinct bipartite light organ on its abdomen, proving that ancient fireflies could produce light as the extant Luciolinae species during the Cretaceous period. This finding establishes a minimum age constraint of 99 million years for Luciolinae, the crown group of Lampyridae. The discovery also indicates that fireflies were more diverse in the ancient world, with complex survival and courtship behaviors already in place during the age of dinosaurs.