Maria Ny’s Ask Auntie Antelope Blog

“Firefly” is the common name for the nocturnal luminous insects belonging to the beetle family Lampyridae (order Coleoptera). They are also known as lightning bugs. These names come from the fact that some species as adults emit flashes of light to attract mates in order to reproduce, using special light-emitting, photic organs in the abdomen.

The photic organs produce light by means of a chemical reaction consisting of Luciferin (a substrate) combined with Luciferase (an enzyme), ATP (adenosine triphosphate) and oxygen, producing a “cold light” because there is almost no heat in the glow. When these components are added, light is produced. All known firefly larvae (also known as glowworms) produce light, but many species of fireflies do not glow as adults.

At night, the last abdominal segment of the firefly glows a bright yellow-green color. The firefly can control this glowing effect. The brightness of a single firefly is 1/40 of a candle, which is why the ancient Chinese sometimes captured fireflies in transparent or semi-transparent containers and used them as (short-term) lanterns. Fireflies use their glow to attract other fireflies. Males flash about every five seconds; females flash about every two seconds.

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 9th, 2007 at 11:18 am and is filed under Interesting Animal Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.