Paint the town red

Fireflies are actually beetles, not flies or bugs. They evolved to light up as a defense mechanism but now use it to find mates. The light comes from a chemical reaction in their abdomens. During mating season, females wait for males to approach them. The males have oxygen tubes in their abdomen that deliver oxygen to light-producing cells. Enzymes in these cells combine with organic substances to produce light. The females respond to the males' flashes by flashing back. Light pollution is a major threat to firefly populations as it disrupts their ability to find mates. Winter fireflies exist and are active during the winter, but they don't emit light. Hi, I'm Sabrina Mangilardo. Hi, I'm Vivian Bailey. Hi, I'm Mikayla Korofsky, and this is our podcast on why fireflies buzz glow. Whether you call them fireflies or light-up bugs, these insects are neither flies nor true bugs. Instead, they are beetles, just like ladybugs. Have you ever thought fireflies glow at night because it's dark? This is a common misconception about fireflies. The fireflies you see flashing are males looking for females. Males flash a specific pattern when they fly and hope a female will reply. Fireflies originally evolved the ability to light up as a way to ward off predators, but now they mostly use this ability to find mates. The light of the firefly is a chemical reaction caused by an organic compound, luciferin, in their abdomens. As air rushes into the firefly's abdomen, which is the final and largest body region, it holds most of the insect's guts and reproductive organs and reacts with luciferin. Then, it causes a chemical reaction that gives off the firefly's familiar glow. This starts off two weeks during early summer when it's mating season. Now I'm going to explain the steps that go through mating season with the fireflies. First, the females perch on bushes and grass as night falls, awaiting the flashy males. As the male flies, oxygen enters its thumb through tubes in its abdomen called tritura, which primarily delivers oxygen directly into the insect's tissues. These run from the exoskeleton surface to light-producing cells known as photocytes, a cell that specializes in catalyzing enzymes to produce light. Then, inside the photocytes, the luciferase enzyme merges with the light-producing luciferin, which is an organic substance present in lumescent orgasms that produces light when oxidized by the action of the enzyme luciferase. The molecule is catalyzed by oxygen and energy-storing ATP. This results in oxy-luciferin, which is a compound with excess energy in its atoms that is released as a light. It's visible through transparent segments of the bug's lower abdomen. The butt of the male firefly undergoes this process every 5.5 seconds. When a guy catches her eye, the female flirts back by flashing her signal about two seconds after the male, which is a semaphoric wink and blush. In conclusion, all of this information together is important because firefly populations are threatened by one major thing, light pollution. Unfortunately, outdoor lights prevent fireflies from seeing each other's flashes. Therefore, they have a hard time finding mates. If artificial light interrupts a firefly's ability to signal at each other, which can disrupt mating, fewer fireflies will be born each year. Fireflies have immense cultural, biological, and economic importance and are important components of natural ecosystems. Finally, we want to end our podcast with a fun fact. Did you know there are winter fireflies? While fireflies are largely seen as a staple of summer, there is one North American species that is active in the winter. Adults of these winter fireflies do not emit light and hide in the bark of trees, so they go largely unnoticed. Thank you for listening and have a great day. We hope to see you next time.