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Free, Online Resources to Learn Malayalam! FireFlies in Kerala
Most of the 2,000 known species of fireflies live in the tropics. About 60 species live in North America. The insects range in length from less than half an inch (12.7 mm) to more than an inch (25.4 mm).
Fireflies are not really flies. Some people call them lightning bugs, but they are not bugs either. Fireflies are actually beetles. The firefly is a flat, egg-shaped beetle 1/4 to 3/4 inches (5 to 20 millimeters) long. Its color is mostly brown or black.
Fireflies FAQ How Do Fireflies Make That “Cool” Light?
What Do All Those Flashes Mean? The male firefly flashes its light for a very important purpose. It wants to find a mate. When it gets dark, the male firefly flies through the night. It flashes its light like a signal. Each kind of firefly has its own signal. The female firefly has short wings and often can’t fly. It perches itself on a bush or a rock and waits. When a male passes by with a signal the female recognizes, the female flashes back the same signal. The male lands and touches the female’s antennae. This is how fireflies smell each other. If the female smells right to him, the two fireflies will mate. Later the female lays her eggs.
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Luciferin and luciferase, extracted from preserved photophores and purified, are used to detect ATP in a biochemical test. This test has applications in bacteriology, cancer research, oceanography, and space exploration.
The firefly would be a rather ordinary beetle, except for one thing. At night, it can “light up.” You probably have seen fireflies whizzing around and flashing their lights on warm summer nights.
