Lightning Bug Becomes Indiana’s State Insect, and the Reason Why May Surprise You

Be honest...did you even know that Indiana had a state insect? That's news to us. How and why did we settle on a lightning bug?

According to NBC affiliate WTHR in Indianapolis, yesterday Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb announced that Indiana now has an official state insect, and it is the LIGHTNING BUG!  But check this out, because the reason WHY the lightning bug was selected is also very cool.

Apparently, the lightning bug was named here in the Tri-State in 1826!  An entomologist (aka a bug guy) named Thomas Say living in New Harmony, IN was studying the seemingly magical insect.  He named it, of all things, the Say's Firefly nearly two hundred years ago!