At the beginning of each summer, in theSmoky Mountainsfrom the United States,the males of the fireflyPhotinus carolinusoffer females a unique show of lights that shine in unison. This timing ability has been a mystery to biologists until now. A new study seems to offer a definitive explanation for this unique behavior.
According to an article published today in the magazineScience Andrew Moiseff from the University of Connecticut and Jonathan Copeland from Southern Georgia University when looking for a partner,females respond better to chorus of lights than to isolated glare.
Fireflies produce light in waves of 510 to 670 nanometers through a chemical reaction involving the enzyme luciferase. Specifically, the males ofP. carolinusthey emit light in a certain pattern, consisting of one or more signals followed by a characteristic pause, during which females, observing from leaves and branches, produce a single signal if they detect a suitable male.
In their experiments, Moiseff and Copeland placed femalesPhotinus in laboratory Petri dishes and surrounded them with flashing LEDs that simulated the brightness patterns of multiple males of their species. In this way they found that they produced their own signals more coherently in response to synchronized signals than to those that were out of rhythm.
As the authors conclude, each species has a pattern of flashes, soBy shining in a synchronized way, they facilitate their position for the females so that they can recognize them in the middle of a forest, where several species of fireflies coexist.
