Firefly - an insect decorating a night

Anyone who has ever seen how a myriad of tiny lights dance in the fields or in the forest at night will not forget about this fascinating spectacle. Would you like to take a closer look at the mysterious flashlights that adorn the summer night? This firefly is an insect that belongs to the beetle family, a coleoptera group, called Lampyridae in Latin.

Why do they shine?

The fireflies have their amazing ability to glow because they have special organs at the bottom of the abdomen, consisting of photogenic cells and underlying reflectors, which are filled with crystals of uric acid. Oxidation processes occur that cause luminescence. Light can be of different strength and duration, but always greenish or reddish-yellow. They use insects for protection from predators, warning them about their ineducability, and attracting representatives of the opposite sex.

Firefly - insect of the night

In our latitudes there are several species of fireflies. Some of them, Ivanov's worms, are night insects that spend a day in dense grass and fallen leaves, and with the onset of night they go hunting. These fireflies live in the forest, where they hunt spiders, snails and small insects. Female Ivanova worm can not fly and completely brownish-brown, only on the lower side three segments of the abdomen are white. They are brightly shining. Firefly - an insect, with which you can even read, leading a live flashlight on the lines. And fireflies, living in the Caucasus, shine in flight. These reddish sparks, dancing in the dense darkness of the southern night, give it a special mystery and charm.

Marriage period

At the moment when the mating time arrives, the firefly male, whose photo you saw in the article, goes to search for the sign from the female, who wants the continuation of the genus. And as soon as he finds one, he descends to it. The fact is that different kinds of fireflies emit light with different frequencies, and this is the guarantee that representatives of one species will mate among themselves. Firefly - an insect, which chooses the partner is the female. It determines it by the nature of the glow. The higher the frequency of its flicker, the brighter the light emanating from it, the more likely the male will charm the partner. In the tropical forests , firefly males perform their collective serenades to their ladies, while simultaneously lighting and extinguishing their flashlights. Trees, braided with such "light-music", shine brighter than show-windows in big cities. But there are also cases of deadly mating games. The female uses an invocatory light sign in order to attract males of a different species. When the seduced fertilizers are, it simply eats them.

Continuation of the genus

Of the eggs that the female has postponed after fertilization, large gluttonous black larvae with yellow spots appear. By the way, they also shine, like adults. By autumn they hide in the bark of trees, where they remain for the whole winter. And the next spring, waking up, a few weeks to feed, then pupate and after 1 - 2.5 weeks of them develop new adult fireflies, able to surprise us with their mysterious night shine.