"Competition?
I can't wait to
Posted on 07/09/2004 6:34:47 AM PDT by the_devils_advocate_666
After enjoying yet another great feed at my neighbors' annual pig roast this past Saturday evening, I commented on all of the lightning bugs across the road in the corn field. My wife's good friend, Wendy Everly, said I should write an article on them.
I asked her what the big deal is with lightning bugs and she replied that they don't have them in Montana. My response was sort of "so what?" We don't have the great trout fishing they do and no elk and mule deer to hunt. This, along with all of the othe r great diversity this country has to offer, is good for tourism.
Actually, fireflies are rarely seen in the western United States. You must come as far east as Kansas to begin seeing them on a regular basis.
The lightning bug or firefly is not a fly at all. It is a beetle with two pairs of wings. They are about a half inch long, black with two red spots on the head, six legs, two antennae and compound eyes, and their wing and head covers are lined in yellow.
Some people may find it hard to believe these pretty little bugs flying around lighting up the night are meat-eaters. They are carnivorous in both the adult and larval stages. They eat other insects, including other fireflies, insect larvae, and snails.
The glow you see coming from these insects is the result of a chemical reaction between luciferin and luciferase. Luciferase is an enzyme that is not consumed in its reaction with the luciferin. The "glow" occurs when the luciferin changes chemically. Th e light you see is about 1/40 of a candle's light.
The flashing we see at night is part of a complex communication system used by these insects to attract mates. The females flash about every two seconds. The males flash back about every five seconds trying to find the right species of female.
One species' females flash in many different ways to attract the males of other species. When the wrong one shows up, he gets eaten!
Another reason lightning bugs glow is to tell other predators that they taste bad. The chemicals that make them light up taste bitter. Birds don't like them and other predator insects will just eat the head and thorax and drop the abdomen.
I remember reading about someone who had seen a small toad grab a lightning bug and he saw the glow inside the toad. Either the young toad was not very smart or the firefly's defense system failed.
Gotta wonder who discovered that, why, how, and what looks his colleagues (and wife) gave him when he announced his findings.
Dan
If I recall, The experimenter who found out they taste was an 8 year old boy named Jeff. The experiment was conducted approximately 30 years ago.
Have a nice day.
Jeff
I discovered it when I was four years old. :^P
I once asked a question on a UseNet group about why they are sometimes called fireflys and sometimes called lightning bugs. The results were interesting. Illuminating.
Perhaps we could put the dimwits in a jar and see what happens.
I'm originally from California and saw my first Firefly at 32 in Bedform Massachussets. Was sitting in a dark bedroom looking out the window at the flashing light of a "plane" flying in the distange just above the treeline when it dove down at a steep angle below the treeline obviously between me and the trees! I almost fainted jumped up dumbfounded and yelled out in a profound tone of voice "OH MY GOD! IT IS A PHENOMENA!" imagine my freaked state when it turned and headed straight towards my window! I realized what it was when it flew right past the window.
I'm sorry. ;)
I always say the same thing when I'm startled. Of course, I correctly use the singular form, "OH MY GOD, IT'S A PHENOMENON!"
I used to catch them and put them in a jar so I could read in the dark. I'm still wondering why that didn't work!
I drive through So Texas at night twice a week. I've see them in the dense patches of trees/brush that lines certain areas of highway 77 from Waco to Corpus.
One night we had a candlelight dinner in a windowed breakfast nook and I looked up and there were a mess of lightning bugs that were attracted to the flickering light flying up and down the windows.
Were you a reliable observer at age 8? I think that before reporting scientific findings in a public forum you should replicate the results. It would be important if you could get several of your friends to confirm your results as well.
A beautiful sight: a field lit up by fireflies on warm June night. And they work their magic while devouring mosquitoes.
Additional fact discovered by myself as a young researcher - if you hit them just right with a wiffle ball bat, you can get a glowing smear on your bat. Hit enough of them, and your whole bat will glow.
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