FACTORS AFFECTING FIREFLY LARVAL LUMINESCENCE

¹ Department of Biological Sciences, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York 11790

1. Electrically stimulated light responses and pseudoflashes were studied in larval fireflies, Photuris sp.

2. The larval pseudoflash is highly variable, but it is considerably longer in duration than the pseudoflash produced by the adult.

3. Larvae which were not previously glowing in air would not produce pseudoflashes unless stimulated during the anoxic period prior to admission of oxygen. Even with stimulation no glow could be produced in nitrogen. Pseudoflash intensity is proportional to stimulus frequency up to 10 stimuli per second. Light intensity is dependent on oxygen concentration up to 10% oxygen under uniform stimulus conditions. A multipeaked pseudoflash response can be obtained with rapid alternations of 10% oxygen and nitrogen.

4. Pseudoflash intensity declines with increasing hypoxic duration under uniform stimulus conditions.

5. Differences between the larval and adult pseudoflash response are discussed, but no difference could be linked directly to the operation of the adult tracheal end cell.

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