An Education on the Science of the Firefly

During the middle of August, I start thinking back on my summer vacation visits to my cousins’ country house. Those blissful moments still remain one of my fondest childhood memories.  I can still remember the heady aroma of the sweet, newly mown fields of grass drying under the sun in preparation for baling to feed the farmer's cows and horses over the winter. 

I remember being mesmerized by the blazing stars that shined like diamonds against the cloudless dark deep blue night sky, while strolling leisurely to the beautiful lake each evening.  But the highlight of my evening strolls was watching the fireflies showing off their brilliant blinking dots of light.

Maybe it was a coincidence or something more mysterious, but the other day I ran across an article about fireflies. While they are not your average house pet, since they are a species of beetle, fireflies still bring us a great deal of visual pleasure during warm summer evenings. So I thought it would be fun to write about some of the fascinating facts about these beautiful creatures.

A recent study about this insect revealed that when male fireflies synchronize their flashes, they are doing this to help the female fireflies within their own species find a mate. Since there are a considerable number of different species of fireflies, when the female sees males flashing in just the right pattern of lights, it makes it far easier for her. In response to the right cues, the female then will offer her own "romantic" counter flash.

Entomologists may be considered a “buggy” group of scientists, but then again there are those that have specialized in studying a particular species. Andrew Moiseff of the University of Connecticut, a firefly researcher said, "What the females are doing is looking for the number and tempo of flashes. That’s much easier for her to see when the guys work together. The dialogue is that the males are flying and flashing their species-specific pattern."

And when the female on the ground of the same species recognizes the pattern, she then responds, "Hey guys! I'm one of your species, but female."

Professor of evolutionary and behavioral ecology at Tufts University, Sara Lewis said, "Since visual clutter increases with population density, these results also suggest that flash synchrony could be much more widespread in other firefly species. This is a really nifty experimental study exploring the benefits of male flash synchrony in roving fireflies. The fact that female fireflies are more likely to give a flash in response to synchronous signals than to non-synchronous ones is a big deal. For a firefly male, we know that getting a female to answer him is at least half the battle to winning a mate."

But the end of this courtship ritual is not completely understood.

“Six to a dozen males may be attracted,” Moiseff said.  “We don't know if she's distinguishing among males when she responds."

For anyone wishing to learn more about this study about the mysterious firefly, Moiseff’s paper appeared in the July 9 issue of the journal Science.

Registration for the entire paper is free.

Isn’t nature absolutely amazing? Share your thoughts in a comment.