Both glow worms and fireflies are not worms and flies as their names suggest. You can read all about these insects here, as well as bioluminescence and how it used by insects and other life forms.
HOW TO CATCH FIREFLIES
Most of us have fond memories of catching fireflies or lightning bugs on warm summer nights. Many people kept them in jars—sometimes a jar full of fireflies can produce enough light to read by. If you want to catch fireflies, here are a few tips that will help you along.
Fireflies are easy to spot—just look for the flashing lights. They typically love long grasses, marshy areas and regions near the edges of ponds, lakes, streams and other bodies of water. They can thrive under low-hanging trees, in forests and fields, and even in your yard or vegetable garden.
Watch Your Light
Fireflies communicate using their flashing lights. If you want to catch one, you have to act like one. First, turn off your exterior house lights—these may confuse fireflies and make them less likely to respond to light signals from other fireflies. Then take a flashlight outside.
If you are having trouble getting near the fireflies in your yard, imitate one of them by shining your flashlight directly up and down, or by repeating the light patterns you see fireflies emitting. This may or may not work; many scientists who study fireflies have better luck with LED lights than with battery-powered flashlights. Never shine a light directly at a firefly; it’s likely to scare them away rather than attracting them.
In addition, you may have better luck catching fireflies if you place a blue plastic disc or piece of paper over your flashlight to turn the light blue. Scientists believe fireflies don’t interpret blue light the same way they see other colors, so the light won’t disorient their flash patterns.
Catch Carefully
When you get close enough, catch your fireflies using a net. Place the fireflies you catch into a clear jar with a lid that’s been pierced to let in air. You should also place a moistened paper towel or preferably a damp unbleached coffee filter inside to keep the air in the jar humid. This way, your fireflies will have air to breathe and won’t dry out. Be sure to crumple your damp paper towel or coffee filter to create areas for the fireflies to hide. Change out paper every 2-3 days, or as needed. This is important to keep bacteria and mold from growing on the damp paper.
Fireflies in a Jar with Apple Slices & Wet Coffee Filter Paper
If you would like to keep your fireflies alive the longest, use apple slices in your jar. Fireflies will readily drink the juice from a fresh apple. You can also use grapes, raspberries or other available fruit. These fruits however will rot a lot quicker. Additionally, if you have a mister (small or large bottle), use this with distilled water and give the jar a misting occasionally. This is to help keep the environment moist but also simulate the natural environment better. The inside of homes are often very dry and not ideal conditions for firefly survival. Occasional misting keeps them from drying out too quick.
Fireflies
In the early evening, flashing lights can often be seen cruising around in the forest. These are the little lanterns on the underside of the abdomen of a carnivorous beetle of the family lampyridae . These beetles have been misnamed fireflies. It is believed that the flashing light is used by males and females to attract each other. The light is created by an enzyme ( luciferase ) which reacts with other chemicals in the insect’s body to produce light energy. The firefly regulates the emission of light by controlling the amount of air supplied to the cells. The regularity and intensity of the flashing may help fireflies identify males and females. Both the firefly larvae and wingless females can also be also known as glow worms. The larvae of the firefly has a flat, segmented body resembling a kind of serrated flatworm. This larvae has two little ‘windows’ at the back end of the body through which a pale green glow is seen. Why the larvae also glows is unknown.
The ability of plants, fungi or animals to glow is called bioluminescence. Things that glow in the dark can be extremely mysterious and fascinating. Glowing ghost and Halloween costumes are popular. Star stickers can keep shining on a bedroom ceiling after the night light is extinguished. People make practical use of glow in the dark clocks. Glowing in the dark is also employed by many of the so called ‘lower animals’ and invertebrates as part of their ecology.
Living things which are capable of creating their own light are called bioluminescent. Since William Beebe explored the darkness of the deep ocean, science has known that many deep sea marine species have glowing spots in strategic places or patterns on their bodies. Terrestrial species with similar abilities continue to be discovered. Many of these are small invertebrates and fungi, usually hidden from view in the dense rainforest vegetation, leaf litter or soil. Finding new species during the light of day is difficult enough. Finding a newly discovered species with abilities that can only be seen in the dark can be even more difficult.
In the Wet Tropics rainforests, there are a number of living things which produce their own light. These include fungi, fireflies, glow worms, and some large earthworms. It is likely that there are also snail species here which are bioluminescent since many such land snails have been found in Southeast Asia.
How does a living thing create light?
Presented as simply as possible, bioluminescence occurs when the luciferase enzyme and the chemical luciferin react. A third element needs to be present for this reaction to take place which varies according to the type of animal or fungus. For example, adenosine triphosphate is required in fireflies and glow worms; calcium for jellyfish and peroxide for earthworms. Oxygen is also sometimes required. Whatever the exact reactants are for each animal or fungus, the end result is the release of energy in the form of light.
The chemical reaction described above and the resultant unstable by-product are often referred to by the experts as ‘an excited state’. In some cases, this may be a clue as to why an animal might be bioluminescent but the situation is different for each type of animal that has the ability to glow. For fireflies, the ability to glow is useful for attracting mates. The glow worm has a better chance at a full dinner because it uses its pale green light to draw in a curious, unsuspecting meal.
Why would a living thing want or need to create light?
Living things use bioluminescence for a variety of reasons. Glow worms use their pale green lights to attract an unsuspecting meal to their ‘snares’, made of mucous-coated silk threads hanging from tubes in which the glow worms reside. Fireflies use the ability to glow for attracting mates.
No one knows why many species use bioluminescence. Why would fungi use light? What use is light to an earthworm living in the dark soil?
There are very few researchers in Australia involved in the study of this fascinating aspect of life in our living museum, but perhaps as more species are discovered with this strange ability, more answers for the existence of bioluminescence will come to light.
Many thanks to Professor Barrie Jamieson of the University of Queensland Zoology and Entomology Department for taking the time to provide his expert assistance and informative materials about bioluminescence.
