Author: Zhao Li (Director of Chengdu Huaxi Entomological Museum)
Source: Knowledge is Power magazine
"Fireflies, fireflies, fly slowly, summer nights, summer nights, the wind blows softly", have you ever seen a firefly "carrying a string of lanterns"?
Common fireflies usually "carry a small lantern"
Giant fireflies of 5 cm
The adult fireflies we usually see are usually only about 1 cm long, and even if they are larger, they are only 2 cm. On June 19, 2021, I collected a giant female adult firefly with a body length of more than 5 centimeters in Zhao Gong Mountain, Dujiangyan, Chengdu.
Female fluorescent fireflies with a body length of about 5 cm
During the day, the female fluorescent fireflies look like a large yellow powderworm, but at night, they miraculously glow green all over their bodies, as if they are draped with strings of small lights. There are more than 30 luminous points on its body, and it does not flicker, and its brightness is far greater than that of ordinary fireflies, and it can even illuminate the surrounding range of several centimeters. After consulting the information, it was confirmed that it was a rare insect of the family Lynchidae, latin for rhagophthalmus giganteus.
Female fluorescent fireflies during the day
Female fluorescent fireflies at night
Strictly speaking, female fluorescent fireflies do not belong to our common group of fireflies classified as lampyridae, but belong to the female fluorescent genus rhagophthalmus (also known as the concave eye fireflies menghuoius).
A lone female fluorescent firefly
The female fluorescent fireflies tend to have only one at a time they are found, which is most likely related to its food source. Experts have found that it never eats snails and earthworms that most fireflies like, and only preys on various types of horses. The number of horses and land is obviously much less than that of snails and earthworms. Moreover, the horse is very self-defense, with the protection of a hard carapace all over the body, and it will also discharge unpleasant liquids when attacked, coupled with its relatively agile movements, making it much more difficult to prey on food than snails and earthworms.
Malu, also known as a millipede
In order to quickly subdue this formidable prey, the female fireflies will directly bite MaLu's head through a powerful curved hook-like mouthpiece and inject venom into anesthetizing it. Ma Lu would immediately roll and curl up in pain after being bitten on the head, but soon lost his mobility. After Ma Lu lost the ability to resist, the female light fireflies began to eat from the head, and even burrowed into Ma Lu's body to feed until the entire Ma Lu was eaten.
When does the halo of a female fluorescent firefly appear
Female male fireflies are not large, look similar to most fireflies, and can also fly, except that they do not emit light. The male's eyes are large and aimed at making it easier to observe the light emitted by the female at night.
Female Fireflies (Drawing: Flying)
The female insect maintains the form of a larvae, before mating, the female worm only the tail will glow, the light point is strong and obvious, it will crawl to an open place, the male will immediately fly to mate after finding the signal it sends. But this romantic process is also very dangerous, there are a few species of female fireflies will imitate the way other kinds of females glow, when other kinds of male fireflies think that they are running for romance, but unfortunately become prey.
The female fluorescent fireflies bend the body into a C-shape, protecting the eggs in the abdomen until the larvae hatch.
After entering the spawning period, the way the female fluorescent fireflies glow has changed, and the whole body node will emit a ring of light, with more than 30 glow points, so some people jokingly call it "other fireflies are lanterns at night, but you dance the fire dragon!" ”
The secret of the "Fire Dragon Dance"
The female glowing firefly is covered with glowing dots
The light of the female fluorescent fireflies comes from light-emitting cells, which are densely surrounded by small trachea and delicate nerve branches, and the main substances in the cells are a phosphorus-containing chemical called luciferin and a luciferase. When the female fluorescent is active, the breathing is accelerated, the body sucks in a large amount of oxygen, oxygen enters the light-emitting cells through the small trachea, so that the fluorescein that was originally in the inhibited state is released from inhibition, and the fluorescein interacts with the fluorescent enzyme that acts as a catalyst in the cell, producing a biological oxidation reaction, making it emit a brilliant light.
So, if a female fluorescent firefly emits such a bright light, will it generate heat and burn herself? Of course not. Most of the energy produced by fireflies when they glow is released in the form of light, and only about 2% of the energy is converted to heat energy, which is called "cold light". This seemingly ostentatious way of glowing is actually intended to warn most predators who are afraid of bright lights at night.
Since female fluorescent fireflies are very rare, if you have the opportunity to see it, try not to disturb it, so that this strange insect that can "dance fire dragons" will live endlessly in nature.
(Editor-in-Charge / Wang Jiaying Art Editor / Zhou You)