Where have Ghana’s fireflies and antlions gone?

Source: MyJoyOnline · 2026-10-19T18:30:26.000Z · World

For many Ghanaians, childhood memories of the outdoors include tiny lights flickering through the darkness as fireflies moved across the night, and small, funnel-shaped pits in sandy ground where antlions, locally known as kokroko, lay in wait for their prey. These encounters were once familiar sights for some people. Today, however, some Ghanaians say they rarely see these insects, raising questions about whether their populations are declining and what might explain their apparent disappearance. While these observations do not, on their own, establish a nationwide decline, they point to a question worth investigating: what has happened to the insects that once formed part of everyday life in many communities?

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