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Instead of the sun there are the moon and stars, instead of the wood-thrush there is the whip-poor-will, - instead of butterflies in the meadows, fire-flies, winged sparks of fire! Who would have believed it? What kind of cool deliberate life dwells in those dewy abodes associated with a spark of fire? Henry David Thoreau in A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers Fireflies (Lampyridae) use chemically created flashes to get sex or food - the two major concerns of insects - or as a way to get sex for food. Their flashes are a series of dots and dashes - a firefly's Morse Code - transmitting everything needed to communicate. Color and brightness are added for emphasis. The signals are the male's calling card, advertising who he is. A female, in turn, flashes back, letting him know she's receptive. Simple enough - and this system has worked for generations, but, as is Nature's way, other fireflies have found a way to work the system for their own purposes. Spiders are the main enemy of fireflies, but, with a certain toxin, most fireflies will be left alone. To become "immune," a firefly must eat another firefly with the toxins. To attract the species with these chemicals, females intercept those males while in pursuit of their own females. In response to his flash, the devious female will fake her interest by imitating the flash of his species. When the male sees the female answering with the correct signal, he approaches her - but meets with his murderer rather than his lover. She eats him and thus receives his protective chemicals. However, not to be outdone by these shifty females, a male firefly of her own species takes advantage of her sneakiness by pretending to be her potential dinner - but when she arrives, he blinks his true identity and mates with her.
The truth dazzles gradually, or else the world would be blind.Emily Dickinson |
