Fireflies are beetle insects from
Lampyridae family in the order Coleoptera with over 2,000 described species.
They are soft-bodied beetles that are commonly called fireflies or lightning
bugs for their conspicuous use of bioluminescence during twilight to attract
mates or prey.
Fireflies produce a "cold
light", with no infrared or ultraviolet frequencies. This chemically
produced light from the lower abdomen may be yellow, green, or pale red, with
wavelengths from 510 to 670 nanometers. Some species such as the dimly glowing
"blue ghost" of the Eastern US are commonly thought to emit blue
light (<490 nanometers), though this is a false perception of their truly
green emission light due to the Purkinje effect.
Fireflies are found in temperate
and tropical climates. Many are found in marshes or in wet, wooded areas where
their larvae have abundant sources of food. Some species are called
"glowworms" in Eurasia and elsewhere. While all known fireflies glow,
only some adults produce light and the location of the light organ varies
between species and sexes of the same species. The form of the insect which
emits light varies from species to species.
Fireflies have a large amount of
variation in their general appearance, with differences in color, shape, size,
and features such as antennae. Adults can differ drastically in size depending
on the species, with the largest being up to an inch long. Although the females
of some species are similar in appearance to males, larviform females are found
in many firefly species. These females can often be distinguished from the
larvae only because the adults have compound eyes, although the latter are much
smaller than those of their males and often highly regressed. The most commonly
known fireflies are nocturnal, although numerous species are diurnal. Most
diurnal species are not luminescent; however, some species that remain in
shadow areas may produce light.
WHY DO FIREFLIES LIGHT UP?
The reason is so simple, they do
light up in order to attract mates or prey.
HOW DO FIREFLIES LIGHT UP?
Fireflies produce a chemical
reaction inside their bodies that allows them to light up. This type of light
production is called bioluminescence. The method by which fireflies produce
light is perhaps the best known example of bioluminescence. When oxygen
combines with calcium, adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and the chemical luciferin
in the presence of luciferase, a bioluminescent enzyme, light is produced.
Unlike a light bulb, which
produces a lot of heat in addition to light, a firefly's light is cold light,
without a lot of energy being lost as heat. This is necessary because if a
firefly's light-producing organ got as hot as a light bulb, the firefly would
not survive the experience.
A firefly controls the beginning
and end of the chemical reaction, and thus the start and stop of its light
emission, by adding oxygen to the other chemicals needed to produce light. This
happens in the insect's light organ.
Photo: A firefly insect, a white part of an abdomen is the Light organ
When oxygen is available, the
light organ lights up, and when it is not available, the light goes out.
Insects do not have lungs, but instead transport oxygen from outside the body
to the interior cells within through a complex series of successively smaller
tubes known as tracheoles. For a long time it was a mystery as to how some
firefly species manage such a high flash rate, considering the relatively slow
speed of the muscles that control oxygen transport.
Various research show that nitric
oxide gas plays a critical role in firefly flash control. In short, when the
firefly light is off," no nitric oxide is being produced. In this
situation, oxygen that enters the light organ is bound to the surface of the
cell's energy-producing organelles, called the mitrochondria, and is thereby
not available for transport further within the light organ.
Photo: Fireflies glows at night
The presence of nitric oxide, which binds to the mitochondria, allows oxygen to flow into the light organ where it combines with the other chemicals needed to produce the bioluminescent reaction. Because nitric oxide breaks down very quickly, as soon as the chemical is no longer being produced, the oxygen molecules are again trapped by the mitochondria and are not available for the production of light.
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Posted by: Lusubilo A. Mwaijengo
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