A Conversation with Sérgio Henriques: “Wild Lights of Beanblossom Bottoms and Beyond”

In this virtual lecture, biologist Sérgio Henriques will share a general overview of the luminous beetles in Indiana. The Say’s firefly (Pyractomena angulata) has been Indiana’s official state insect since March 2018, half a decade later, he will reflect on what is this species’ conservation status in its “home state” and discuss how it could easily have been extirpated from multiple counties, or from the entire state altogether, without anyone noticing. He will take a closer look at some of the rarest and most threatened species of fireflies in the state, and discuss why Sycamore Land Trust’s Beanblossom Bottoms Nature Preserve is so special. As DNR’s State Wildlife Action Plan starts the next decade of conservation action in Indiana, he will argue why we should incorporate the protection of dark skies towards preserving the remarkable wild lights of our state; why indigenous knowledge is crucial for conservation efforts, and what every Hoosier could and should do to help.

This virtual Zoom lecture is followed by a Q&A. Our Conservation Conversation virtual lectures are free for Sycamore members and a suggested $5 donation for non-members.

Sérgio Henriques is the invertebrate conservation coordinator at the Global Center for Species Survival, Indianapolis Zoo; and is the chair of the Conservation, Sustainability and Land Management section at the Indiana Academy of Science. Sergio has more than 20 years of experience mobilizing resources to promote invertebrate conservation, looking for lost species and in summer he can mostly be found under Indiana’s dark skies studying our state’s fireflies. He regularly works with a global network of experts, including IUCN specialist groups and the Invertebrate Conservation Committee, to tackle understudied threats such as light pollution or the illegal wildlife trade, using the latest technological tools to reverse the ongoing decline of the most diverse group of organisms on earth, invertebrates.