Every summer outside the tiny Mexican town of Nanacamilpa, a unique type of firefly puts on one of nature’s most incredible light shows.

These insects are one of the dozen or so species of firefly that signal in a synchronized fashion. The males, taking to the air to woo females, flash a sparkling yellow that undulates like waves through the dark forest.

The species, Macrolampis palaciosi, was first described only seven years ago, and very little is known about its biology.

Throngs of tourists flock here in June and July to east-central Mexico’s Tlaxcala state to see the creatures. After reading a National Geographic story on the fireflies and their role in promoting local tourism in 2017, filmmaker