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Science 29 June 2001:
Vol. 292. no. 5526, pp. 2486 - 2488
DOI: 10.1126/science.1059833


Abstract
Full Text 		Nitric Oxide and the Control of Firefly Flashing
Barry A. Trimmer, June R. Aprille, David M. Dudzinski, Christopher J. Lagace, Sara M. Lewis, Thomas Michel, Sanjive Qazi, and Ricardo M. Zayas

Supplementary Material


To view these movies, download a QuickTime viewer or update your standard 4.0 edition.

  • Movie 1
    QuickTime 5.0 digital movie: This 55 sec video documents the response of a Photuris sp. firefly to NO gas. The first and second scenes show firefly bioluminescent courtship behavior in a natural setting. The third scene shows a firefly housed in the custom-built plexiglass gas chamber. Firefly bioluminescent response to absence and presence of NO gas (70 ppm) is shown in the fourth scene. Typical firefly flashing/glowing responses to NO are documented in this video; these observations were replicated 27 times in 13 different fireflies with equivalent results.

    Supplemental Figure 1. Photuris image. This Photuris versicolor female has captured and is in the process of devouring a Photinus tanytoxus male (photo courtesy of James E. Lloyd). In addition to using precise control of flash timing in courtship signalling, such predatory Photuris females modulate their flash signal to mimic female flash responses of various Photinus species to lure in males.


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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)