Science Video Friday (on Saturday!) - Photuris flashing

I recently ordered a new camera (a Canon Powershot SX150 IS) after my old camera (a Canon Powershot A560) went kaput, and it arrived a couple of days ago. Since then, I've been testing it out and getting used to it. I've gotten a few good shots, but I still have a long way to go before I'm comfortable with it. I have to say though, it's a huge step up from my old camera, which isn't surprising considering I had been using the A560 for about six years.

I decided to test out the video function last night and was impressed with the results. It shoots in HD, so I can actually get some quality video out of it. The subject I turned to was a firefly in the genus Photuris that seemed to be on its way out the door. I grabbed my hand lens and recorded a short video of it flashing, which you can watch below. It was interesting to watch up close, which I had never done before.

Fireflies produce light via a biochemical reaction utilizing luciferin, luciferase, ATP, oxygen, and magnesium. This happens in the last few segments of the abdomen. Watching it up close I noticed many small sparkles of light before the big flash, who knew?

Science Video Friday - Firefly Double Feature

Science Video Friday comes to you today as a double feature! One of the neatest topics within entomology is bioluminescence, the process by which insects can create their own light. The first insect you probably think of when you hear that is the firefly. Those of us in the eastern US are fortunate enough to live in areas where fireflies also live: west of the Rockies, you don't really find them.

Fireflies can flash in a variety of colors, including orange, yellow, and even blue! The color of their flash is one way they recognize their own species in the dark, so if you see fireflies in your yard at night and there are two different colors flashing, you have at least two separate species.

Now it's time to learn a bit more about fireflies, with the wonderful series "Meet the Lampyridae." Enjoy!

Firefly Mimics - A Crafty Click Beetle

I learned two things during my Investigative Studies Project last summer concerning mimicry:

1.  Fireflies get mimicked a whole lot
2. It's super tricky to separate some of the mimics from actual fireflies, especially when you get into the soldier beetles (family Cantharidae).

A group I wasn't aware mimicked fireflies is the click beetle family, Elateridae. During my research I spotted a pretty example of one of the representatives from this family:

Unless you were to get on this click beetle's level, you would think it's a firefly. I'm quite pleased with this picture, though it could use a little more touching up later. Denticollis denticornis is this beetle's name, and it was making its way across a moss and lichen-covered log, providing a great background.

This is the only species in its genus in North America, and its mimicry of fireflies is a predator defense. I haven't found any information about whether or not the beetle itself is toxic, or if it's just getting a free ride thanks to the fireflies. A predator would see it and be all "I'm staying away from that beetle, it must be toxic!" and D. denticollis would chuckle to itself and walk away.

A Triumphant Return

I've now been back in the United States for three days now, and each day I have made time to go out looking for insects. I've missed the familiar plants and temperate weather, and on top of that, I've had a lot of success, especially today. So far I've confined myself to my backyard, but that hasn't limited what I've found.

I pulled off some dead bark from some staghorn sumac, and found some ants which had set up residence inside the plant.

They quickly grabbed the ant larvae and ferried them away from view, and ran around feverishly trying to figure out what had happened. I was hoping for some beetle grubs, but this was fine too.

I also found a firefly crawling around in the grass. It's still a bit chilly for most of the fireflies to be out, but I've seen a few. Hopefully it will only be a few weeks until they're out in abundance and flashing. Speaking of fireflies, if you haven't yet, check out Firefly Watch, a project to look at firefly abundance and gather data on fireflies. It's a project you can help out with: just register your location, habitat, and watch fireflies for 10 minutes. It's great fun, and you'll learn a lot while you're collecting data.

Next on my list was finding a caterpillar. "Awesome!" I thought, being the first caterpillar I had found.

After taking a closer look, however, I realized that this wasn't a caterpillar at all: it has way too many prolegs. I'm not sure what exactly it is, but the only other group I know of that are similar to caterpillars in their larval stage are sawflies. Well, you also have beetles, but this is definitely not a beetle grub. So I'm leaning towards sawfly, and I'll see what I can figure out.

I next found something super cool: a molted spider skin. Until a few months ago, it never even occurred to me that spiders shed their skin. Of course they're arthropods, but it just never crossed my mind. Sort of like the clover thing, I suppose.

That's pretty awesome.

I came upon a tree which had its leaves full of small holes, and soon found the (alleged) culprits: weevils. There were many all over the tree, most of them mating. I'm not sure of what species of weevil they are, nor what species of tree they were on, so if anyone knows, leave me a comment. UPDATE: Thanks to Tricia, this mystery has been solved: they're a pair of mating Tulip Tree Weevils (Odontopus calceatus) mating on a tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera).

Once I was nearing the end of my romp around my yard, I came upon a particularly unfortunate beetle.

Its right wing and elytra didn't look to be in the best shape, but it was persevering. I'm pretty sure it's Atalantycha bilineata, the two-lined leather wing, but I need to look at it a bit closer first to be sure. I haven't ever seen this beetle before, it's great to know that I haven't found anywhere close to all the insects in my yard yet. We'll see what tomorrow brings!

All of these pictures were from yesterday, so I'll post my pictures from today's hunt tomorrow.