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Firefly Lightning Bug Glowworm
(Coleoptera Lampyris) Fireflies are amazing! They are bioluminescent insects, which means their bodies flash or glow with light. They don't have tiny batteries inside. They use a chemical reaction to make the glow. In the lowest part of their bodies, fireflies mix oxygen, the chemical luciferin and an enzyme -- and presto! -- they light up.  Over 95 percent of a firefly's energy is given off as light.If you touch one, it isn't hot. But if you touch a light bulb - ouch - it's really hot. An electric light bulb gives off only 10% of its energy as light, and 90% is wasted as heat. Fireflies aren't flies at all. They are beetles that have wings. There are 1900 species of fireflies around the world. In the United States and Canada, fireflies live in damp places east of the Rocky Mountains. Many more live in the tropics of Asia, Central America and South America.  What is a glowworm? Glowworms are the larvae of fireflies. Their soft, wormy bodies glow, but they don't flash on & off. Glowworms live on the ground and when they get hungry, which is all the time, they like to eat slugs & snails. First they immobilize their prey with poison and then they eat the whole thing. In the summer, glowworms' change and they become beetles. They have wings and a protective shell. On summer evenings they fly from the trees and grasses and start blinking to each other. Adult fireflies probably eat other insects too. But no scientist has ever seen that. You could be the first scientist to see a firefly eat another insect!  OK, but WHY do fireflies light up? Is it a secret code? Yes, it is a secret code that only fireflies understand completely, but scientists know a couple of things they might be saying.Glowworms protect themselves by glowing. They are like little neon signs that say, "I taste really, really bad - don't eat me." Fireflies send rhythmic signals to help them find a mate. Up in the air a male firefly blinks and when a female on the ground sees him she signals back, but only if she thinks he has a really cute blink. That's how they find each other in the dark! |
