Observations on the Biology of Three Luminescent Beetles (Coleoptera: Lampyridae, Elateridae)1

Abstract

Luminescence in adults of Phausis reticulata (Say), a firefly, functions to bring the sexes together for reproduction. Both sexes are luminous and females are stimulated to turn on their lights by glowing males. Such a lighting response in females would be a fundamental stage in the evolution of complex flash-communication systems. Males of Pyrophorus atlanticus Hyslop, a click beetle, can be attracted to an illuminated decoy with a twin light arrangement which simulates the prothoracic light organs possessed by both sexes, but not to a single light.