LIGHT-INHIBITION OF FLASHING IN THE FIREFLY PHOTURIS MISSOURIENSIS

¹ Department of Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93108

1. Photic inhibition of spontaneous flashing is demonstrated in Photuris missouriensis.

2. The minimum latency of inhibition is between 80 and 160 msec. Inhibition is expressed as completely missed or diminished intensity flashes. There is a tendency for the flashes appearing during inhibition to be later than expected but generally flashing returns to pre-inhibitory timing, suggesting continued operation of a flash pacemaker. The extent of inhibition was found to be light intensity dependent above minimal intensities at which on-off triggering effects are dominant.

3. Direct excitation of the light organ could not be inhibited via the visual system.

4. Transfer of inhibition from one Photuris to another, via saline bridging their body cavities, could not be accomplished.

5. These results, arguing for a purely central mechanism of inhibition in Photuris, are compared with those of Magni and Brunelli et al., who propose both central and peripheral inhibition of flashing in Luciola.

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