| 7/24/2009 1:44:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article | Enjoy a six-legged light show
Lightning bugs aren't bugs, and their greenish light has nothing to do with lightning. But that doesn't detract from the fact that they are one of nature's backyard wonders. "The light show evolved to aid males in courting females," explained Tom Ellis, Extension entomologist at Michigan State University. "Each species has its own blinking code."
The light comes from a chemical reaction that occurs in special cells in the insect's abdomen when a substance called luciferin is combined with oxygen and an enzyme. In most species, only the males fly, so it's the males that you see flickering over lawns and meadows in the summer. The females and larvae also give off light, but because they spend all their time in vegetation, they are generally less obvious. "Females of some species have evolved so that they mimic the codes of other lightning bugs to lure males of other species to them," Ellis notes. "The females then eat them."
Lightning bugs are beetles, though their wing covers are leathery rather than hard like those of the ladybird beetle and many other familiar species. Lightning bugs are elongated and mostly dark-colored, with a shield on top of the thorax (the middle body section, between the head and the abdomen) that hides the head. They range in length from ? to ? inch.
Lightning bug larvae prey on small insects and snails. They and the flightless females are often called 'glow worms'. "No life stage of the lightning bug damages plants or invades homes or other structures in large numbers," Ellis pointed out, "so this is one insect that everybody can simply enjoy."
Lightning bugs are among the common insects featured in "What's Bugging You?" (Extension bulletin E-2649 ) a light-hearted look at some of the multi-legged creatures that inhabit Michigan lawns, gardens and homes to entertain, annoy and sometimes frighten their human neighbors. It is available for $7.95 (plus tax) from the MSU Extension office in Chippewa by calling 906-635-6368.
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