[3] Its designation as such started with a group of Highland Park Elementary School students in Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania.

[3][8] With advice and support from state legislators, the students began a campaign that included letter writing, the circulation of petitions, and the distribution of bumper stickers.

On April 10, 1974, Governor Milton J. Shapp signed Act 59 into law, making the Pennsylvania firefly their state's official insect.

[8] Many Pennsylvanians know these insects by the name "lightning bugs" and may have confused "firefly" with "black fly" when that state was plagued by them in 1988[citation needed].

The firefly (Lampyridae Coleoptera) of the species Photuris pensylvanica De Geer is hereby selected, designated and adopted as the official insect of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.