Little fireflies exist in each of our childhoods, or memories, but have you really seen it?
Glowing larvae
The first time I saw a firefly was a firefly larvae. That's right, fireflies' larvae glow.
It was Wuhan in August 2000. One night, after the rain, I was in a pile of half-human-tall weeds on the campus of Huazhong Agricultural University, and found many glowing things, green and green, still moving, flickering brightly and dimly. I crouched down and counted, and there were more than 30 highlights. I reached for the dot of light, but I pinched a small thing of flesh. Opening his palm and reaching for it, the light suddenly brightened. "Ah..." I couldn't help shouting out.
I found a transparent glass bottle and forceps and gently clipped one of the dots of light into the bottle with tweezers. The little guy in the bottle seemed to be frightened, his head retracted into the first section of his back, motionless, and his 6 legs were symmetrically and gracefully arranged. There seems to be a suction cup under the tail, which is tightly glued to the glass. I lifted the bottle head down in my hand, its 6 legs completely dangling in the air, but the tail was still firmly attached to the bottom of the bottle, like an acrobat playing "trapeze". After the light went out, I stared at it, my eyeballs almost glued to the glass bottle. After about 20 minutes, its head slowly protruded from its sleeve-like body, and the thief looked left and right, making sure there was no danger, and began to crawl in the bottle. I saw it swing its head, and the sides of its tail emitted bright light. The light is not very rhythmic, sometimes only for a few seconds, sometimes up to 4 minutes long, and then extinguished, and lit up again for a long time.
What is it doing this way? I reached into the bottle with tweezers and touched it. It immediately tightened its head like a turtle, and the light on its tail was several times brighter than it had just been, and then slowly weakened. I looked at my watch, and the glow time was about 2 and a half minutes. I touched it again, and its light quickly increased, and then slowly extinguished, as if answering to me.
Later I learned that it was a firefly. I had never seen a firefly before and had always thought it was a beautiful creature. I didn't expect that fireflies would be so ugly in their infancy.
Raise fireflies
Why do firefly larvae emit light? Is it to lure prey? I did the experiment, and it turned out that the food of the fireflies, the snails, had no interest in the light on the larvae. I have consulted many books, and it turns out that the light emitted by the firefly larvae is a signal to warn against predators, and the light emitted by the adult insect is a signal of sexual communication, that is, the language of courtship. The world is truly magical, and the same firefly has different meanings in different stages of light.
Studying any insect, indoor rearing is an indispensable part. I started raising fireflies in the lab. I found a white plastic box, dug some dirt from the outside and spread it in the box, and sprayed some water. To make the fireflies more comfortable, I planted some grass in the box, put some fallen leaves, and planted a few flowers. To prevent the larvae from running away, I covered the box with a piece of white gauze and fixed it with a rubber band. After more than half a month, I found out how larvae in the box were 12 missing? I rummaged through the box and found them one after another in the crevices of the earth—they did not move in the crevices, and when they touched them, they emitted a bright light. Turns out they're going to start pupating!
A few days later, the first adult firefly in the lab came out of the pupae. I found it after a small grass. It was dressed in black dress-like wings, silent, haughty, like an English gentleman, personable, with an orange semicircular lid above its head, like wearing a top hat. Its belly was dark, except that the two bands on its tail were white. I touched it with grass, and the two white strips immediately glowed green! The male with two luminaries is the male. At night, this newborn male firefly climbed up and down the grass, and the small lamp on its tail was always on, and it did not mean to extinguish for a long time.
In 2007, Mount Emei visited Yingfeng
One evening in June 2007, I walked more than 20 kilometers along the winding road to the Golden Peak without seeing a single firefly. My legs were getting heavier and heavier, and when I saw that I was about to give up, I turned the corner and a 600-meter-long glowing band of fireflies appeared in front of me! The gutters and cement pavements on the side of the mountain wall are full of water, and countless larvae emit a soothing green light, moving, extinguishing and then lighting. There are also many male fireflies gathered on the vines above. They are quietly waiting for their lover's choice. They glow an orangeish yellow, while the females glow a greenish yellow glow. It is rare for the same firefly to emit different spectra of light between male and female. What is even more peculiar is that the male fireflies glow almost at the same time. In 2008, I named the most beautiful fireflies in China the Dome Fireflies, which means that they are as beautiful as the firmament of the universe.
In 2010, the light spread all over Tiantai Mountain
The Tiantai Mountain Scenic Area, which is 110 kilometers away from Downtown Chengdu, is a paradise for fireflies. At present, 17 firefly species have been found there. From May to November every year, the ravines, valley floors, water, and forests of the scenic spot are full of fluorescence. At the end of April 2010, in a place called Xiaojiawan, lilac irises were spread on the hillside, and fireflies flew up and down lightly. From a distance, the entire hillside looks like it is full of glowing irises. I took some samples and went back, and found that the female fireflies only had elytra wings and no hymenopters, and could not fly, no wonder they crawled up and down on the grass tip, emitting a rapid faint flash. These fireflies are very unique, the larvae look like trilobites, so I named them Trilobite Fireflies.
2011 Looking for Firefly Dabie Mountain
After dinner, the sky gradually turned blue, and the stars began to blink mischievously. I put on my long clothes and pants and snake boots, carried a 20-kilogram photography bag, put on a tripod, put on a headlamp, and walked towards the firefly spot. As soon as I entered the forest, the fireflies suddenly increased, as if someone in the sky was dipping a brush in the golden dye and sprinkling it down at will. I caught a few of them with a net, confirmed that they were all three fluorescent fireflies, and released them. The male fireflies flew briskly and glowed enthusiastically. Although the individual is only about half a centimeter, the light emitted is very bright. I walked through a flower tree and saw a flash of light on the flower tree, and when I looked closer, it turned out to be a male black firefly sucking the juice of the flower. It was the first time I had spotted an adult firefly eating, and no matter what position I approached it in, or what intensity of flash I shot at, it didn't care. I think this juice must be very sweet!
2014 Fireflies in Xishuangbanna
Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden is a great place to enjoy fireflies. Every year after Songkran, there are more fireflies. The first to appear are the brown-ended black fireflies, and by mid-to-late April, they are more numerous, emitting a very bright flash, like a shuttle of bullets in the night sky, "Dada da da da Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Da-da-da-da- Some male fireflies flew to the top of the tree and shone with love around the canopy. Female fireflies hide in the middle of the canopy or in the grass with rapid flashes, and the mated fireflies to the suitable grass to lay eggs. In early May, the yellow wide-edged fireflies also appeared. The whole botanical garden is full of their light and shadow. The male glows tirelessly and visits the place where the female firefly may appear. From a distance, it looks like a dancing milky way! At this time, it is also a busy season for natural enemies of fireflies such as spiders and blind spiders: they enjoy a "glowing feast" when there are the most fireflies. By June, there are fewer fireflies, but their next generation is growing rapidly.
Excerpt from the April 2016 issue of Global Junior Geography
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