Watching a group of fireflies swarm in the night, with their lights flashing on and off, can make you feel like you're watching a magic show. These spectacular lights are actually the insects' complicated language that they display during mating rituals. Sometimes, though, a firefly uses its glowing rear to lure another firefly into a deadly trap.
Mood Lighting: These insects use their "taillights" mostly to attract mates. Females sit on plants and watch males fly around and flash complex signals. If a female is impressed by a male's light show, she returns a signal that tells him to come to her.
Fire in the Sky: Fireflies light up the night with special light-producing organs in their abdomens. These organs suck in oxygen and mix with two chemicals, luciferin and luciferase, to produce a soft, flashing light. Several reflector cells amplify the glow.
Follow the Slime[]
A female clings to the top of a stem so males can easily see her.
Fireflies live brilliant but very short adult lives, which last only four to five days. Most of their four-month lifespans are spent foraging on the ground as larvae. Unlike most adults, the larvae are meat-eaters, and are even venomous! Young fireflies often follow the slimy trails of snails and slugs, then bite into the victims and shoot them full of paralyzing toxins. Some prey, such as earthworms, might be too large for a single larva to tackle, so the creatures sometimes work in groups of three or four. Each one repeatedly bites the victim, injecting it with venom until it's immobilized; that allows all the attackers to eat their fill.
Ladykiller: In a few firefly species, adult females are carnivores. These creatures of the night perch on a blade of grass and mimic the mating signals of other species. If a male flies in, he is devoured by the female's curved jaws.
Orange Alert: These creatures use their flashing abdomens for more than just mating displays-they also keep enemies away. Most predators have leaned [sic] that the chemicals that help fireflies produce light also make them taste awful.
Gone in a Flash[]
- Seeing a bunch of male fireflies from the genus Photuris in the air, a female from the genus Photinus climbs onto a nearby blade of grass. She watches the females in the area and learns the pattern of flashes they use to attract the males.
- The Photinus female mimics the other species' mating signal and, within a minute or two, a male is on his way to her. The male sees that the female is the wrong species, but it is too late-she grabs him in her jaws and begins to eat him before he can escape.
Trivia[]
- The family on the card, Lampyridae, is a family of beetles including the fellow Strange Wonders card, Glow-Worm (Lampyris noctiluca).
- The firefly's glow is compared to that of the Hatchetfish on the latter's trading card.
- In the section “Orange Alert”, the card accidentally says “leaned” instead of “learned”.