fafly
The fafly was a soft-bodied species of beetle originally native to the Sangmyung Valley. It was extirpated from the wild long ago due to natural causes. The larviform males were small and flitted through the air with two pairs of soft, leathery wings looking for mates. The females, on the other hand, were relegated to the ground with very thin layers of chitin for their body. 80% of their body was filled with bioluminescent chemical that, when they fully mature into adults, would constantly produce light. The lights the females produced were very powerful for a natural-occurring chemical reaction, allowing the males easily locate them. Faflies had life spans of about one week and raced through birth to maturity in a single day. They only required oxygen to survive their entire lives, and the females only ever ate plant matter preparing to give birth. Males would use their mandibles to tear off chunks of leaves and present it to the females as a request to mate. A male fafly would die shortly after mating, leaving the fertile eggs inside the female to quickly hatch and burst out of her in a sizable number.
Fafly Lanterns #
The Isutan people of antiquity discovered that holding a cluster of female faflies in one location created a powerful light source that could compete with torches. Coupled with their easy upkeep and their quick breeding cycle, fafly-based lanterns became a staple of lighting across The Eastern Provinces. Eventually, fafly-based lanterns would spread across Legere as a cheap, self-sustaining lighting option, but remained the most popular within the Provinces.
Extirpation #
Even though the fafly females weren't regularly preyed upon due to the terrible taste of the bioluminescent , the males hold practically no evolutionary advantage, so the species itself has been wiped from nature's ecosystem. They still only cling on to dear existence due to humanoids' regular use of them.