Hobbies And Interests
Types
Fireflies are a member of the family Lampyridae, which includes other insects with the ability to glow, such as glowworms. There are approximately 136 species of fireflies, all of whom have a slightly different blinking pattern. It is possible to determine which species of firefly is present in an area by this pattern.
Function
Fireflies light up primarily to attract a mate. Males fly through the air, flashing their light pattern. Female fireflies in the grass respond with flashing of their own. This is how they locate each other in the dark. The flashing also warns potential predators about their unappealing taste, so that bats and other insects leave them alone as they go about finding a mate.
Considerations
Fireflies create light in a process called bioluminescence. A special organ under their abdomen contains cells filled with luciferin. When oxygen combines with luciferin in these cells, it produces light. Scientists do not completely understand what triggers this process, but in a study described in a 2001 Science magazine paper by Dr. Barry Trimmer and associates, it was found that the presence of nitric oxide gas in oxygen stimulates light production in fireflies.
Time Frame
The light show only lasts through mating season. A few days after mating, the female firefly lays her eggs on the ground or just below it. The eggs hatch in four weeks and the larvae feed on insects, snails, slugs and worms until fall. When the weather starts to turn, they burrow under the ground and lay dormant until spring. They emerge in the spring and feed until summer, when they turn into a chrysalis in the earth for a little over two weeks, when they emerge as adults and start looking for a mate.
Insight
Fireflies run from a few millimeters to about an inch long. While the larvae eat live prey, adults eat either pollen or nectar, if they eat at all. They are the only species of bioluminescent creatures who can flash their light on and off.