ABOVE: A group of tropical fireflies (Pteroptyx malaccae) illuminate a tree in Thailand.
RADIM SCHREIBER
An hour’s drive southwest of Bangkok, Thailand, tucked into a curve of the Mae Klong River, lies the village of Amphawa. Until recently, tourists flocked here to watch a spectacular evening light show. Thousands of male Pteroptyx malaccae fireflies would gather in the three-story-tall mangrove trees that line the Mae Klong and flash in synchrony. “It looks like a big Christmas tree with lots of tiny lights,” says Anchana Thancharoen, an entomologist at Kasetsart University in Thailand who has studied fireflies for more than two decades.
The district government started promoting firefly tourism in Amphawa back in 2004. Within just a few years, hundreds of motorboats were zooming up and down the river each night. New hotels, restaurants, and roads transformed the “quiet, peaceful province into an urban area,” says Thancharoen. By 2014, due to light ...
