Nocturnal creature - Fireflies

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fujita yuji

Joined
Jul 12, 2008
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Anybody loves nocturnal creatures here ?
I started this after Razor's "night walk" thread.
I love walking and climbing at night. There are risks do not exists
in daytime activities but we can see quite different things at night.
And climbing, there are significant advantages in climbing at night.

Back to nocturnal creatures, here is a firefly.
Maybe the most major specie of fireflies here in Japan is
Luciola cruciata, Genji-Botaru in Japanese.
2009.05.30.R0018494.JPG

This is a close shot of cruciata, taken last weekend (before I went to falcons' nest).
There are several spots around my home fireflies live.
I'm not sure but maybe I can see them more these few weeks that
I'll try to take more shot and post.
 
Fireflies have always signaled the coming of summer fun to me. An integral part of the music of the night--the light show! LOL
 
2009.06.08.R0018705.JPG

Yesterday night was relatively cool that they were not very active.
I could see less than ten flying.
2009.06.08.R0018701.JPG

This is a close-up shot. sorry for poor photo as my camera is not very good at
higher ISO rate.
 
Great threads that you post.. I just saw the first few lightning bugs of the season on Saturday night in my back field. There is one area on our property that practically lights up with them at certain points in the summer. I will try to get some pics.
 
mneedham said:
There is one area on our property that practically lights up with them at certain points in the summer. I will try to get some pics.
Click to expand...

Thanks, mneedham.
BTW it's too nice to hear you have fireflies within your property!
Please share if you took pics..
 
We have tonnes in our backyard, but they are not out yet. We still need warmer weather. Nice photos!
 
Great pictures Fuji! We have them here in the US as well, but they "flash" differently. Sometimes you can see as many as 50 in one area as they attract each other in open spaces.

Do you have any pictures of the crickets around there? What kind of place is Kamakura, is it near the ocean or in the mountains?

Thanks for showing your pictures!
 
kgd said:
We have tonnes in our backyard, but they are not out yet. We still need warmer weather. Nice photos!
Click to expand...

Thanks, kgd; and here's another guy who has fireflies within his yard...

Joezilla said:
Great pictures Fuji! We have them here in the US as well, but they "flash" differently. Sometimes you can see as many as 50 in one area as they attract each other in open spaces.

Do you have any pictures of the crickets around there? What kind of place is Kamakura, is it near the ocean or in the mountains?
Click to expand...

Kamakura is just in front of pacific ocean and mountains (rather I call them hills)
are just behind my house. In short, there are both sea and mountain within a small
town, commonly seen configuration of Japanese town.
We have various crickets, we haven't seen fully grown one yet.
They also are quite active nocturnal members.

Scott Free said:
What's the difference? I'm only familiar with the US variety.
Click to expand...

Neither do I. cruciata (major firefly here in Japan) flash for a few or ten seconds and fade for
ten seconds or so. Males are bigger and brighter than females.
Synchronous flashing is not widely known and I haven't seen neither.
 
As Joe mentioned, the different species have different timings between their flashes so that they can recognize one another and find the right mate. Apparently there is one species that is predatory and mimics the flash of other fireflies. The fireflies thinking they are being attracted to the opposite sex are instead consumed by the predatory mimic.
 
Wow! kgd, predatory firefly's story is so amazing!

The one I pictured above consume nothing once they fully grown up and begin to fly but for drinking a little water.
They live on energy stored while they were lavae.

There are two major species here in Japan and as you said, their flashing patterns are significantly different.
 
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I live in one of two places in the world where the fireflies flash synchronously (the other is somewhere is Vietnam). It's amazing to watch a hillside suddenly pulse green. The fireflies only put on their amazing display for two weeks in June. It is one of the best times to visit Eastern Tennessee.
 
That is the most remarkable chaotic oscillation phenomenon, synchronous flashing of fireflies!

Giant forest, Yosemite, Patagonia , Eastern Tennessee, (the list continues...)
There are too many places someday I have to visit. :D
 
Here you go - right from the most prestigious scientific journal - Nature:

Nature 290, 498 - 500 (09 April 1981); doi:10.1038/290498a0

Firefly mate-rivals mimic their predators and vice versa

James E. Lloyd, Department of Entomology and Nematology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA

Fireflies, beetles of the family Lampyridae, use flashes of bioluminescent light for sexual communication—by means of coded patterns, males and females identify and locate each other in darkness1. In sexual signalling of Photinus macdermotti (eastern United States) the male emits two flashes separated by approx2 s and the female then waits approx1 s before replying with a single flash (Figs 1a, 2a)2. Females of Photuris versicolor and Photuris 'B' mimic the reply of P. macdermotti females thus attracting P. macdermotti males, which they eat (Fig. 1b, c). When the predators are decoying P. macdermotti males, they sometimes produce 'extra' flashes that mimic the 'competition' flashes used by the males when competing for females (compare Fig. 1d with e)3. I suggest here that the male competition flashes (that the predators mimic) might also be mimics of the predator's own mimicry.
Click to expand...
 
If we collected a jar full of synchronous foreflies could we start a campfire with them ??
 
mete said:
If we collected a jar full of synchronous
Click to expand...
Yes, with no doubt. Absolutely bright enough to see our firesteel and blade. :D
Their light emission is so effective compared to the methods of ours that
almost no heat is produced, every part of energy is transformed into light.
I think this is one of the most amazing things of firefly.

Thanks, kgd for Nature quotation.
Endless struggle between predator and prey is always so impressive.
I saw sometimes a sparrowhawk mimics flying pattern of it's preying birds to pretend a harmless bird.
The attempts I saw were all failure, though. Predator's life is not an easy one.

Thaks, rksoon. They are so amazing that I wish you could see them someday.
 
Cool stuff. When we were kids, we'd chase and catch fireflies in the yard until we had a mason jar full, only to find most of them dead the next day :(
Still love to set in the humid summer air and watch them dance through the trees.
 
fishshooter said:
Cool stuff. When we were kids, we'd chase and catch fireflies in the yard until we had a mason jar full, only to find most of them dead the next day :(
Still love to set in the humid summer air and watch them dance through the trees.
Click to expand...

I caught some last night with my kids...you gotta let them go at the end of the capture session!
 
Here I have some more.
I could see them most active tonight.

R0018714.JPG

Taking rest on some plant.
R0018715.JPG

Flashing so brightly on my hand. He's so bright isn't he?

R0018722.JPG

One came down to my pants.
 
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