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Science 31 October 1980:
Vol. 210. no. 4469, pp. 560 - 562
DOI: 10.1126/science.210.4469.560
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Articles

Ecology of Colors of Firefly Bioluminescence

ABNER B. LALL 1, HOWARD H. SELIGER 1, WILLIAM H. BIGGLEY 1, and JAMES E. LLOYD 2

1 McCollum-Pratt Institute and Department of Biology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218
2 Department of Entomology, University of Florida, Gainesville 32611

Dark-active North American fireflies emit green bioluminescence and dusk-active species emit yellow, in general. Yellow light and yellow visual spectral sensitivity may be adaptations to increase the signal-to-noise (that is, foliage-reflected ambient light) ratio for sexual signaling during twilight. The peaks of the electroretinogram visual spectral sensitivities of four species tested, two dark- and two dusk-active, correspond with the peak of their bioluminescent emissions.

Submitted on November 23, 1979
Revised on April 28, 1980


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