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Jun 28, 2009 Features / Columnists, Interesting Creatures in Guyana
They are locally referred to as the Candle Fly but in many parts of the world these winged beetles are commonly called fireflies or lightning bugs.
Falling within the family Lampyridae these insects of the beetle order Coleoptera make conspicuous crepuscular use of bioluminescence to attract mates or prey.
They are in fact capable of producing a ‘cold light’ containing no ultraviolet or infrared rays. This chemically-produced light, emitted from the lower abdomen, may be yellow, green, or pale red in colour, and has a wavelength from 510 to 670 nanometers.
There are more than 2,000 species of fireflies found in temperate and tropical environments around the world. Many species can be found in marshes or in wet, wooded areas where their larvae have abundant sources of food. These larvae can also emit light and are sometimes referred to as glowworms.
Fireflies in general tend to be brown and soft-bodied, often with the elytra more leathery than in other beetles. Though the females of some species are similar in appearance to males, larviform females are found in many other firefly species. These females can often be distinguished from the larvae only because they have compound eyes. The most commonly known fireflies are nocturnal, though there are numerous species that are diurnal. Most diurnal species are non-luminescent, though some species that remain in shadowy areas can produce light energy.
A few days after mating, a female lays her fertilized eggs on or just below the surface of the ground. The eggs hatch there three to four weeks later and the larvae begin to feed.
After several weeks of feeding, they pupate for one to two-and-a-half weeks and emerge as adults. The larvae of most species are specialized predators and feed on other larvae, terrestrial snails, and slugs. Some are so specialized that they have grooved mandibles which deliver digestive fluids directly to their prey. The diet of adults is variable. It has been reported that some are predatory, while others find food on plant pollen and sometimes nectar.
Light production in fireflies is due to a type of chemical reaction called bioluminescence. This process occurs in specialized light-emitting organs, usually on a firefly’s lower abdomen. The enzyme luciferase acts on luciferin, in the presence of magnesium ions, ATP (adenosene triphosphate), and oxygen to produce light. Genes coding for these substances have been inserted into many different organisms.
Some 90 percent of the energy a firefly uses to create light is actually converted into visible light. By comparison, an incandescent electric bulb can convert only 10 percent of total energy used into visible light, and the remainder is emitted as heat.
For adult beetles, the production of light is primarily used to locate other individuals of the same species for reproduction. Some species, especially lightning bugs of the genera Photinus, Photuris and Pyractomena, are distinguished by the unique courtship flash patterns emitted by flying males in search of females. Females of the Photinus genus generally do not fly, but do give a flash response to males of their own species.
Firefly systematics, as with many insects, are in a constant state of flux, as new species continue to be discovered. Though most groups by and large appear to be monophyletic, some (e.g. the tribe Photinini) are perhaps better split up.
There seem to be two groups of subfamilies: one containing many American and some Eurasian species in the Lampyrinae and Photurinae, and one predominantly Asian one made up from the other subfamilies. While the subfamilies as understood here are monophyletic there are still a few genera that need to be moved about for the subfamilies to accurately represent the evolutionary relationships among the fireflies.
The Rhagophthalmidae are a glow worm-like lineage of Elateroidea. They have in the recent past usually been considered a distinct family, but it is still disputed whether this is correct. Indeed, they might be the only close relative of the puzzling firefly genus Pterotus which sometimes is placed in a monotypic subfamily.
The genus Phausis, usually placed in the tribe Photinini of the Lampyrinae, might represent another rather distinct lineage instead.
(Source: Wikipedia – The Free Online Encyclopedia)
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