No, lightning bugs are nowhere near extinct, but it could be possible that the populations in your area are much lower and they aren't breeding as much. Pesticide use, habitat loss, and all sorts of factors can lower populations.
Extinct means there are literally no more individuals of a species ; just because you don't see any lightning bugs for one season doesn't mean that they aren't alive somewhere else, and it would be almost impossible for a species to wipe out within a year, unless they were previously critically endangered.
There are different "stages" of extinction, listed by the IUCN. Least concern, near threatened, vulnerable, endangered, critically endangered, extinct in the wild (but not in captivity) and extinct (with a few other options that aren't important). Not everything is as black and white as people like to believe.
I don't think so, but I never want them in my hose or else it would bother me a lot when I am sleeping in the middle of the night.
I've seen plenty of them.
I have not seen ladybugs this summer, which used to be pretty common. That's kind of disturbing.
No, they are not extinct.
But the habitat they need is shrinking from human development and global warming is destroying mating patterns.
Are they? I ask this question because it's summer time and they always come out but they haven't been out AT ALL this whole season?
