Clyde Sorenson had a hunch. Archival data from the North Carolina Entomological Museum’s collection had led him to suspect that some of the fireflies atop Grandfather Mountain in western North Carolina might be more than the average lightning bug. An entomologist at North Carolina State University, Sorenson is the sort of college professor who challenges his students to write a Shakespearean sonnet praising their favorite insect. He headed up to the mountains in the summer of 2019, and while staying in one of Grandfather’s cabins, he decided to do a…
