The Brightest Bugs Around

Ever since primitive times people have marveled over the ability of fireflies to produce light. The ancient Romans called these insects ”flying stars.“ You will understand why if you ever have the chance to see thousands of them twinkling in the nighttime darkness over a damp field.

Fireflies (often called lightning bugs) produce their light in one of the rear segments of their abdomen. Their ability to rhythmically turn their light on and off, called flashing, is a means of communication for courtship.

The males fly around, flashing their light at regular intervals. The females, some of which cannot fly, perch on grass or twigs and flash in return. Soon a male will respond to a female’s signal and alight beside her. Various kinds of fireflies may be courting in the same area, but each one can identify its own kind. That’s because different species have varying lengths of time between flashes and different colors of light. More than 130 different flashing patterns have been observed.

The ability of living creatures to produce light is called ”bio- luminescence.“ Fireflies are not the only organisms with this feature, but their ability to control it is the most advanced. Many deep-sea creatures, such as certain kinds of squid and fish, can glow in the dark, but they cannot turn their lights off and on as a means of communication.

In Latin America some types of click beetles, also called fire beetles, have two light organs. But, like the underwater creatures, they do not seem to control their lights. These fire beetles once prevented English ships from attacking Cuba in 1634. The soldiers on the ships saw trees on the island covered with thousands of luminescent click beetles. Assuming that the lights came from human sources, they concluded that the coast was too well defended to attack!

Scientists have long been fascinated by the fact that fireflies can produce light with almost no waste of energy. Fireflies’ cold light is much different from the warm light produced electrically by a lightbulb. Although scientists have duplicated the chemicals that fireflies use to make their light, so far no one has been able to use the chemicals to mass-produce energy-efficient ”cold lights.“

Scientists have, however, succeeded in transferring this glowing ability to a plant by inserting a special gene from the firefly into the genetic makeup of the plant. Perhaps someday they will develop a self-lighting Christmas tree!

Medical researchers have also learned how to transfer the lighting gene from the firefly into the organisms that cause malaria and tuberculosis. This makes the tiny organisms easier to study and helps in the search for new medications.

God has not yet revealed all His creation secrets to humans, but as scientists continue to research the tiny firefly, they may continue to make exciting discoveries about light.