(AP) — Indiana’s governor is throwing his support behind a drive by some elementary school students to designate a firefly species as the state insect.
Students from Cumberland Elementary in West Lafayette have over the past few years written letters and testified before legislative committees in their campaign to win the recognition for the bug known as Say’s firefly.
Gov. Eric Holcomb said Wednesday he’s excited at the prospect of signing into law the designation for which the school’s students can take credit.
The pupils have argued that the lightning bug best represents Indiana because of its agricultural benefits and place in American history. The Say’s firefly was named by naturalist Thomas Say of southwestern Indiana’s Posey County in the 1800s.