Something to look for on Midsummer night
Photos: Arne Ader
Translation Liis
Glowworm light
Glowworm Jaanimardikas Lampyris noctiluca
We have surely looked for glowworms in this magical night quite as for the ”flower of the fern“.
Only the female glows. She cannot fly, so she attracts the flying male suitors to herself by the glow.
The female beetle has a flattish body, a few centimetres long, and large eyes and resembles an insect larva. Around midsummer we may see them glowing at forest verges on in sparse forests. The greenish glow originates at the tip of the female’s abdomen under the cuticle, on the degradation of a protein named luciferin in the photocytes of the cells. Oxygen is required for this, so to get it the female climbs up on plant stalks or leaves. The female glowworm beetles are able to control the intensity and strength of the light. How is this possible? We can only find hypotheses in literature.
The light emitted by the glowworm on the degradation of luciferin (bioluminescence) is ”cold”: the infra-red as well as ultraviolet spectral parts are lacking, but it is an extraordinarily efficient process: 98% is turned into light, the remaining 2% into heat. Developers of sustainable technologies have something to ponder on.
Glowworm
After having mated a glowworm no longer needs to light its ”lamp”. The larvae that develop from the eggs spend the winter in the forest debris. The larval stage may even last several years.
The half-hour journey of a glowworm on a straw of grass
Tags: 
