lightning bugs/fireflies

Discussion in 'General' started by cheebaa, Jun 25, 2006.

  1. Hello City,
    I was toking a bowl by my window last night, it was a nice night for smoking. While smoking I noticed the little flickers of some of the most amazing creatures ever.....

    FireFlies or lightning bugs, what ever you prefer. These little things just fly around, flashing there little asses just to catch the attention of some more fireflies..... How friendly huh?



    I figure I would include some info incase you were wondering about the flashing light they produce:



    LIGHTNING BUGS
    <CENTER><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=550 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width="70%">[​IMG]CLASSIFICATION

    Lightning Bugs are the same as Fireflies. They are members of a particular family of the Beetle Order. The Firefly Family is technically known as the Lampyridae.
    <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=100 align=left bgColor=#e5e5e5 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
    Careful...
    It's spelled
    lightning, not lightening...
    </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
    Lightning Bugs are beetles. They can't be "flies" as their name suggests, since "flies" are members of the Fly Order. Glow-worms, which produce light similar to Lightning Bugs', also are beetles, but they belong to a different, though closely related, family, the Phengodidae. There are many Lightning Bug species.
    WHY DO LIGHTNING BUGS FLASH?

    Flashing Lightning Bugs are trying to attract mates. Among most but not all species of North American Lightning Bugs, males fly about flashing while females perch on vegetation, usually near the ground. If the female sees a flasher and she's ready to mate she responds by flashing right after the male's last flash. A short flash dialogue takes place as the male flies closer and closer, and then, if all goes well, they mate.
    <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=253 align=left bgColor=#e9e9e9 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
    [​IMG]
    Adult firefly. Light emanates from
    the rear end, or abdomen, showing up as bright yellow in the picture
    © Greg Scott
    </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
    So that a flasher doesn't attract a firefly of a different species, each Lightning Bug species has its own specific flash pattern. Flash patterns range from continuous glows to single flashes, to series of multi-pulsed flashes.
    Among some species both males and females flash, but among others only the members of one sex do it. Some Lightning Bug species don't flash at all. All known firefly larvae, which are wingless and mostly live on the ground and under bark, produce light. If you see only a glow on the ground, it can be tricky deciding whether you're seeing a firefly larva, a glow-worm, or some other luminescent insect.
    To learn more about how Lightning Bugs make their light, visit the Bioluminescence Web Site.
    WHAT DO LIGHTNING BUGS EAT?

    <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=2 width=200 align=right bgColor=#e8e8e8 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
    [​IMG]
    Lightning Bug larva
    © Greg Scott
    </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>​
    Lightning Bug larvae live on the ground, under bark, and in moist swampy places. They eat earthworms, snails and slugs, plus they may scavenge certain small dead animals and other organic material . They have been seen following slime trails to their victims. Lightning Bug larvae, one of which is shown at the right, have sickle-shaped mandibles with which they can inject a kind of chemical that paralyzes their prey and helps digest it. Several larvae have been seen attacking large prey together.
    Adult Lightning Bugs, who can live for several months, probably feed on plant nectar. A few adult Lightning Bug species practice an especially tricky kind of cannibalism. Already-mated females emit flashes similar to the female responses to male Lightning Bugs of other species. When the male of the other species lands, the female emitting the false flashes pounces on the poor male and eats him!
    </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></CENTER>​
     
  2. how very informative.
    dont ever feed them to a frog. theyll glow for like 20 minutes.
    then they die
     
  3. I was just thinking the same thing --- earlier while I was driving and it was just getting dark ... I saw a firefly light up towards the top of the hill I was driving up. When I got to the top of the hill I noticed something glowing on my windshield -- I guess I hit it ... I don't know I thought it was kind of ironic

    I also find it funny that I have always called firefly's lightning bugs ... until I just typed that ... crazy huh:smoking:
     
  4. i just hear talking and see a green screen

    But, lightning bugs are some cool stuff, i used to trap em in cans and stuff because they were cool, but quite back a long time ago :p
     
  5. Haha, that just reminded me of the other day when me and my friend were really high, walking back to his house, and he caught a firefly in his hand first try. Hes pretty easily amused and got all giddy cause he caught it in 1 try...threw it in the air and caught it again, and then threw it in the air and i caught it, and we were tossing it and it would fly between us for a while. Pretty pointless story but it was hella cool at the time.
     
  6. You know, the things that make fireflie glow is phosphorus, i read somewhere in an article that phosophorus stimulates thc growth i think. found a new use for fireflies while high.i dont my best thinking then. now in addition to all the children skipping around at night collecting fireflies youll see hippies and stoners skipping around collecting them. =)
     
  7. Sorry dude, wasn't me!
     
  8. eh, no harm done anyways-just a bug
     
  9. Lol damn cheebaa, now you got me reminiscing. As a child, I would visit my grandpops in Charlotte, NC and they'll ALWAYS be out at night. I just loved sitting on the porch with my g'ma and g'pa watching them. Sometimes me and my cousins will try to catch them. Play like a game, see who catches the most within a certain amount of time. Good thread man.
     

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