Thread subject: Diptera.info :: Bioluminescence in Diptera

Posted by nick upton on 14-01-2011 16:04
#16

Yes, a very interesting article. Why are JUST the mycetophilids bioluminescent, and yet the phenomenon seems to have evolved several times in that family... Maybe there are other flies/ fly grubs glowing subtly away in other families out there... Does anybody know why the syrphid Pipiza noctiluca (Pipiza nightlight) got a name like that? Maybe a wild guess from a taxonomist with a pinned specimen? They do have 2 pale patches on the upper abdomen, and I've even squinted at a live one in a specimen tube after dark to see if by any chance they lived up to this name... They don't, unsurprisingly! I've encountered all kinds of amazing bioluminescent insects over the years, but most have predictably been beetles, mostly true fireflies (Lampyridae) some with amazing complex male / female and prey luring codes, some even synchronise the flashing. The brightest ones I've seen are actually Elateridae (click beetles) in South America (Pyrophorus sp = fire - carrying ) with green lights on the thorax and an orange light under the abdomen that only lights up on take off. In Trinidad they've given rise to a legend about a witch that flies at night like a ball of fire.... They are quite spooky actually... And in Ecuador, kids collect them to put in glass jars to act as a lanterns. I was able to read by the light of one of these in Amazonia! Bioluminescent jellyfish are fun (the bioluminescence rubs off on you if you handle them...) and even better are marine dinoflagellates and ostracods which give surreal wakes to boats, and flashing sparks on the shore as waves break - I saw this in Scotland once. And finally, Bermuda fireworms (syllid polychaetes) put on amazing luminous spawning spectacles on moonless summer nights for a few minutes after dark. Sorry to go so far off the diptera track... but bioluminescence is a favourite phenomenon of mine which i've been involved in the filming of many times, but I've never yet seen bioluminescent diptera and would love to get to those New Zealand caves one day.