the.com/firebug
the tiny beetle that throws a rave on every fallen tree trunk.
means A person who deliberately sets fires, or, less ominously, an insect of the genus Pyrrhocoris with bold red-and-black coloring.
from A transparent American compound of "fire" + "bug," coined in the 19th century. The "bug" part leans on the old sense of a creature that glows or swarms, and the word stretched easily from literal insect to the figurative "bug" of obsession — a person buggy about fire, i.e., an arsonist.
- true name
- Pyrrhocoris apterus, the red-and-black true bug
- swarm habit
- clusters by the hundreds on sunny bark
- slang twist
- also means a human arsonist
- mostly wingless
- adults often skip flight entirely
- linden lover
- feeds on fallen lime tree seeds
for instance
firebug insect species — photinus pyralis, the lightning bug found across eastern north america, famous for bioluminescent flashing