WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:03.200 Oh hey, it's that key under the mat that somehow 2 00:00:03.439 --> 00:00:06.679 nobody finds and uses to steal all of your stuff. 3 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:09.480 Alli Ward in this episode. It first aired in twenty 4 00:00:09.519 --> 00:00:12.160 twenty one, but it's summer and there has been a 5 00:00:12.199 --> 00:00:16.440 lot of discourse on fireflies lately, and this week July 6 00:00:16.719 --> 00:00:20.280 fifth and sixth marks World Firefly Day. So I reached 7 00:00:20.280 --> 00:00:22.079 out to this guest because I wanted to reair this 8 00:00:22.199 --> 00:00:24.960 with some updates, and she said, I feel like we've 9 00:00:24.960 --> 00:00:28.920 accomplished a ton of firefly conservation in the past four years, 10 00:00:28.960 --> 00:00:31.519 and so we've cited some of the new studies and 11 00:00:31.600 --> 00:00:33.759 research and ways to volunteer. 12 00:00:33.320 --> 00:00:36.479 With this creature. Because let's roll the episode. 13 00:00:36.640 --> 00:00:39.439 We have fireflies for you? Or do we have lightning bugs? 14 00:00:39.799 --> 00:00:42.280 We're going to get into it. So these glowing friends, 15 00:00:42.320 --> 00:00:46.399 they're neither flies nor true bugs, rather beatles in the 16 00:00:46.439 --> 00:00:50.799 family lamparade. But as you will soon learn, this episode's 17 00:00:50.920 --> 00:00:53.920 name comes at an expert's behest. So she is a 18 00:00:53.920 --> 00:00:56.880 professor of biology at Tufts University in Boston. She did 19 00:00:56.880 --> 00:01:00.560 a TED talk on these beloved little critters. She's the 20 00:01:00.640 --> 00:01:04.640 author of the information pact and entertaining book Silent Sparks 21 00:01:04.959 --> 00:01:07.840 the Wondrous world of Fireflies. You may know her on 22 00:01:07.879 --> 00:01:10.760 Twitter under the handle Silent Sparks, and I was introduced 23 00:01:10.760 --> 00:01:14.159 to her through Eric Eaton, who was our Wasp champion 24 00:01:14.200 --> 00:01:16.640 a few episodes back, and I jumped at the chance 25 00:01:16.959 --> 00:01:19.359 to talk to her. Cram did in the schedule a 26 00:01:19.400 --> 00:01:21.560 day or two before my wedding earlier this month, and 27 00:01:21.640 --> 00:01:22.439 we will get to know. 28 00:01:22.439 --> 00:01:24.599 Her work and just a sec but super quick. 29 00:01:24.680 --> 00:01:27.040 Thank you to everyone at Patreon dot com slash Ologies 30 00:01:27.040 --> 00:01:30.079 for making this show possible for the four years we've 31 00:01:30.120 --> 00:01:33.079 been around, and for submitting great questions every week. Thank 32 00:01:33.120 --> 00:01:35.439 you to everyone keeping Ologies up in the charts by 33 00:01:35.480 --> 00:01:38.239 leaving us reviews. And each week I read a just 34 00:01:38.359 --> 00:01:40.840 left one and it's twenty twenty five now, So thank 35 00:01:40.879 --> 00:01:44.159 you to svgd Makes, who wrote I Love Ologies. It's 36 00:01:44.200 --> 00:01:46.840 one of the few podcasts I share with people time 37 00:01:46.840 --> 00:01:49.599 and time again. The only downside you get smarter and 38 00:01:49.640 --> 00:01:54.000 start to question every source of fictional entertainment, sbgd makes. 39 00:01:54.159 --> 00:01:56.120 We're here to load up your brains. We're here to 40 00:01:56.120 --> 00:01:58.799 load up some flimflam and I guess spoil the rest 41 00:01:58.879 --> 00:02:02.480 of entertainment. And thank you to everyone whose reviews I 42 00:02:02.560 --> 00:02:07.959 creepily read literally all of them. Okay, onward sparkle butt ology. 43 00:02:08.080 --> 00:02:10.120 You're going to learn the etymology in a minute. I'm 44 00:02:10.120 --> 00:02:12.240 not even go there in the intro, but you will 45 00:02:12.280 --> 00:02:15.599 also get hip to how these animals light up, why 46 00:02:15.639 --> 00:02:20.120 they light up our hearts, their luminous sexy language. The 47 00:02:20.159 --> 00:02:23.719 best firefly photography accounts to follow, How to take your 48 00:02:23.719 --> 00:02:28.560 own pictures, dos and don'ts of firefly observation. Is it 49 00:02:28.680 --> 00:02:32.120 actually okay to put them in jars on your nightstands? 50 00:02:32.240 --> 00:02:36.800 Or are you a monster? Cobalt ghosts, pink glowworms, fem 51 00:02:36.800 --> 00:02:40.960 fatales of the firefly world. How their populations are doing 52 00:02:41.199 --> 00:02:44.800 if artificial lights affect them, How to join conservation efforts, 53 00:02:44.800 --> 00:02:48.879 and why Western states need not suffer from sparkle but 54 00:02:49.080 --> 00:02:57.479 envy any longer. With firefly scientists, evolutionary ecologist, researcher, conservation advocate, professor, author, 55 00:02:57.599 --> 00:03:02.639 and perhaps the world's first and only self proclaimed sparkle botologist, 56 00:03:03.000 --> 00:03:04.400 Doctor Sarah Lewis. 57 00:03:24.520 --> 00:03:27.800 My name is Sarah Lewis and I use she her 58 00:03:28.439 --> 00:03:29.560 let us dive. 59 00:03:31.039 --> 00:03:37.240 Great, Doctor Lewis, thank you so much for joining your ology. 60 00:03:37.439 --> 00:03:40.199 Is it lamp proology? Would that be what it is 61 00:03:40.520 --> 00:03:41.199 you know, this. 62 00:03:41.280 --> 00:03:44.719 Is really really a hard decision. I spent a lot 63 00:03:44.719 --> 00:03:47.560 of time in the last day thinking about this, and 64 00:03:47.639 --> 00:03:51.280 so I don't know. I don't like lamper I don't 65 00:03:51.360 --> 00:03:54.599 like that one at all. What about lightning bugology or 66 00:03:55.319 --> 00:04:01.400 I don't know, like sparkle buttology. There's so many really 67 00:04:01.439 --> 00:04:05.479 great ones. You know, why use the family scientific name? 68 00:04:05.560 --> 00:04:06.719 It just doesn't seem right. 69 00:04:07.560 --> 00:04:11.879 Sparkle biology it is, okay, I like that one too good. 70 00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:12.639 I agreed. 71 00:04:13.400 --> 00:04:17.120 You are one of the world's most well known firefly 72 00:04:17.639 --> 00:04:22.519 experts and scientists and enthusiasts, and can you tell me 73 00:04:22.600 --> 00:04:26.879 a little bit about your relationship with bugs in general? 74 00:04:26.879 --> 00:04:27.759 Have you always been. 75 00:04:27.639 --> 00:04:34.240 Pro bug so? Yeah, you know, no, I haven't. In fact, 76 00:04:34.879 --> 00:04:43.079 I don't like every single insect. I am completely completely 77 00:04:43.240 --> 00:04:46.600 in love with fireflies, and I think that most people are. 78 00:04:47.079 --> 00:04:49.240 You know, I know a lot of people who don't 79 00:04:49.319 --> 00:04:53.160 really like insects. In fact, they have kind of you know, entomophobia. 80 00:04:54.600 --> 00:04:56.120 We don't like bugs, Honie. 81 00:04:56.160 --> 00:04:57.240 They don't like bugs. 82 00:04:57.360 --> 00:05:02.199 But I've really never met a single person who didn't 83 00:05:02.279 --> 00:05:06.680 like fireflies, so they're you know, they're kind of unique 84 00:05:06.720 --> 00:05:09.920 in that way, right, Like even insect haters love fireflies. 85 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:13.519 Of course, many people don't realize that fireflies are insects, so. 86 00:05:13.720 --> 00:05:16.040 Huh, yeah, what do you think they think they. 87 00:05:15.920 --> 00:05:22.120 Are magical fairies? Yeah? Absolutely. I spend an inordinate amount 88 00:05:22.160 --> 00:05:24.959 of time trying to sort of educate and advocate for 89 00:05:25.040 --> 00:05:27.759 fireflies on social media, and so one of the things 90 00:05:27.800 --> 00:05:29.680 I've noticed on Twitter is that there's a lot of 91 00:05:29.680 --> 00:05:32.839 people who don't actually think that fireflies exist. They think 92 00:05:32.879 --> 00:05:35.680 they're like something that's in children's stories. It's kind of 93 00:05:35.720 --> 00:05:38.439 like a myth and uh huh, yeah, there really aren't 94 00:05:38.480 --> 00:05:41.199 any fireflies as far as they're concerned. They just don't 95 00:05:41.240 --> 00:05:41.639 believe it. 96 00:05:42.160 --> 00:05:44.199 I mean I felt that way about huckleberries, and then 97 00:05:44.240 --> 00:05:46.439 I found out they were a real food. It was 98 00:05:46.480 --> 00:05:50.439 like a huckleberry exists. So fireflies, I guess that's the 99 00:05:50.480 --> 00:05:53.800 first flim flam to debunk, is that fireflies are non 100 00:05:53.800 --> 00:05:55.639 existent but they're not fixed and they're real. 101 00:05:56.439 --> 00:05:59.639 Yeah. There's so many really cool myths tod bunk about fireflies. 102 00:05:59.680 --> 00:06:01.759 I just it, you know, it's like so much fun. 103 00:06:01.839 --> 00:06:04.079 Right, what are the myths do you feel like people 104 00:06:04.199 --> 00:06:05.839 come at you to ask about? 105 00:06:06.319 --> 00:06:10.480 Okay, so, first they are real, that's cool, and yeah, 106 00:06:10.519 --> 00:06:12.639 the other thing is that a lot of people think, 107 00:06:12.720 --> 00:06:15.399 you know, you've seen one firefly, you've seen them all, 108 00:06:15.959 --> 00:06:20.120 but there's actually a lot of different kinds of fireflies, 109 00:06:20.439 --> 00:06:25.879 and so yeah, there's a tremendous diversity in terms of 110 00:06:25.920 --> 00:06:30.120 their behavior and their lifestyles and the kinds of things 111 00:06:30.160 --> 00:06:32.519 that they like to do, the kinds of things they 112 00:06:32.600 --> 00:06:35.519 like to eat. And so that's really cool. Like there's 113 00:06:35.560 --> 00:06:38.319 not just one kind of firefly. If you believe that 114 00:06:38.360 --> 00:06:40.959 fireflies are real, you might think there's just one. That 115 00:06:41.079 --> 00:06:45.079 there's actually about well more than two thousand different species 116 00:06:45.079 --> 00:06:48.680 of firefly, and it turns out we're discovering new ones 117 00:06:48.879 --> 00:06:50.800 all the time. 118 00:06:51.120 --> 00:06:54.279 Oh that's cool. How big and how small do they get? 119 00:06:54.800 --> 00:06:57.959 Hmmm? So they can be pretty tiny, like you can 120 00:06:58.000 --> 00:07:01.480 still see them with your naked so not that tiny, 121 00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:04.839 and they can also get really big. A couple of 122 00:07:04.920 --> 00:07:07.360 years ago, I was in Malaysia and I had a 123 00:07:07.439 --> 00:07:13.519 chance to see these. They're kind of giant, flightless female fireflies. 124 00:07:13.560 --> 00:07:16.959 They're like the females are like the size of your thumb, 125 00:07:17.439 --> 00:07:20.879 Oh a big thumb, right, So they're usually and they 126 00:07:20.920 --> 00:07:24.920 don't have any wings. They actually they kind of look 127 00:07:25.079 --> 00:07:31.240 wormish and they are they're pale, and they're big, and 128 00:07:31.279 --> 00:07:34.279 they're full of eggs and they crawl around on the ground. 129 00:07:34.360 --> 00:07:37.639 And the genus is Lampigera. And they're actually really cool 130 00:07:37.720 --> 00:07:40.959 because the males look like regular little fireflies, but the 131 00:07:41.000 --> 00:07:44.279 females are giant, much much bigger than the males, and 132 00:07:44.519 --> 00:07:47.720 they are like putting all of their energy into reproduction. 133 00:07:47.839 --> 00:07:50.240 They don't bother flying around, like, you know, why bother. 134 00:07:50.480 --> 00:07:52.600 I'll just sit here let the males come to me. 135 00:07:53.199 --> 00:07:56.120 So some of these lady lightning bugs, endemic to Asia 136 00:07:56.319 --> 00:07:59.639 would fill up your whole palm had you the chance 137 00:07:59.800 --> 00:08:04.839 to hold one. They are wingless, dense, pregnant, with a 138 00:08:04.879 --> 00:08:08.639 butt that blinks like a flickering neon sign, kind of 139 00:08:08.680 --> 00:08:11.360 like the sexy job of the hut of fireflies, with 140 00:08:11.439 --> 00:08:15.160 a real flashy ass. Now much different than the airborne 141 00:08:15.399 --> 00:08:18.759 field fairies that folks in North America might be used to. 142 00:08:19.199 --> 00:08:21.920 When did you first encounter them? Because I grew up 143 00:08:21.959 --> 00:08:23.920 in California, so I didn't see one until I was 144 00:08:23.920 --> 00:08:26.000 out of college when I went to New Jersey one summer. 145 00:08:26.240 --> 00:08:28.680 But when did you first encounter fireflies? 146 00:08:28.879 --> 00:08:31.000 Yeah? You know, it's funny. A lot of people have 147 00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:35.039 these like origin stories of like first seen fireflies when 148 00:08:35.080 --> 00:08:36.759 they were kids and they just fell in love and 149 00:08:36.759 --> 00:08:38.840 they've been in love with fireflies ever since. It's like 150 00:08:39.320 --> 00:08:42.559 a childhood nostalgia thing for many people. I grew up 151 00:08:42.559 --> 00:08:46.840 in Connecticut, but I don't remember seeing fireflies until I 152 00:08:47.080 --> 00:08:52.240 was actually in school in North Carolina and I was 153 00:08:52.279 --> 00:08:56.279 a marine biologist, and I was waiting to go to 154 00:08:56.559 --> 00:09:00.159 the field in Belize where I was studying coral ref ecology. 155 00:09:00.360 --> 00:09:02.320 And I was sitting out on my back porch and 156 00:09:02.600 --> 00:09:06.440 with my dog, and it was like late afternoon, and 157 00:09:06.519 --> 00:09:09.200 a thunderstorm was rolling in, and so suddenly it got 158 00:09:09.360 --> 00:09:12.000 darker and darker and darker, and just before it started 159 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:15.960 to rain, I noticed that all around us in the grass, 160 00:09:16.399 --> 00:09:19.440 there were these lights that were coming out of the 161 00:09:19.519 --> 00:09:23.440 grass and slowly rising up, and there were like these 162 00:09:23.639 --> 00:09:27.440 silent sparks like embers, coming out of the grass and 163 00:09:27.519 --> 00:09:32.919 just filling the air all around me. And it was like, WHOA, 164 00:09:32.960 --> 00:09:35.919 what is going on here? That is the first time, 165 00:09:36.039 --> 00:09:40.559 honestly I remember seeing fireflies. It was like, huh, this 166 00:09:40.720 --> 00:09:41.320 is amazing. 167 00:09:41.919 --> 00:09:46.279 When did you sort of turn your sail from the 168 00:09:46.320 --> 00:09:49.080 marine studies back to land? 169 00:09:49.559 --> 00:09:52.440 Yeah, well you know, it's been a kind of evolution 170 00:09:53.759 --> 00:09:56.240 of interests. And one of the great things about being 171 00:09:56.240 --> 00:09:58.960 in academia is that you have like you can kind 172 00:09:58.960 --> 00:10:03.840 of follow your curiossity. And that night, actually my curiosity 173 00:10:03.919 --> 00:10:07.279 got sparked, and I started to wonder, like, what the 174 00:10:07.279 --> 00:10:09.840 heck is going on here? Like who is flying? What 175 00:10:09.919 --> 00:10:12.919 are they flashing about, who are they talking to? What 176 00:10:12.960 --> 00:10:17.600 are they saying? And so in my copious free time, 177 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:21.120 I got to sort of investigate some of those questions 178 00:10:21.120 --> 00:10:24.720 and reach out to the to the firefly experts that 179 00:10:24.919 --> 00:10:28.080 I could find in the US and elsewhere, and to 180 00:10:28.240 --> 00:10:31.799 start to put together, like what do we know about fireflies? 181 00:10:31.840 --> 00:10:34.279 And what are the big sort of missing pieces, what 182 00:10:34.440 --> 00:10:39.519 don't we know and where can I contribute to trying 183 00:10:39.519 --> 00:10:42.320 to answer some of these questions. And so after I 184 00:10:42.360 --> 00:10:43.039 got my PhD. 185 00:10:43.519 --> 00:10:46.639 Doctor Lewis got her PhD in coral reef ecology in 186 00:10:46.720 --> 00:10:50.600 nineteen eighty four from Duke University in North Carolina. 187 00:10:50.759 --> 00:10:55.039 I moved to Massachusetts and started working on fireflies. And 188 00:10:55.759 --> 00:10:58.960 I don't want to say that I've worked continuously on fireflies, 189 00:10:59.000 --> 00:11:00.919 but a lot of the work that my students and 190 00:11:00.960 --> 00:11:05.799 I have done has been looking at the kind of 191 00:11:06.039 --> 00:11:13.480 intimate details of firefly sex lives and courts chip and 192 00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:17.759 it's been really fascinating. We've been able to like discover 193 00:11:17.919 --> 00:11:20.759 all this, you know, really really cool stuff. 194 00:11:20.919 --> 00:11:25.480 Would you say that's primarily why they're flashing their morse code? 195 00:11:25.600 --> 00:11:29.320 Is that pretty much booty calls, like in a literal sense, yep. 196 00:11:29.240 --> 00:11:33.039 Yep, yep, yep, yep it is. And yeah, so it's 197 00:11:33.080 --> 00:11:35.960 subtle and there are you know, there's all kinds of 198 00:11:35.960 --> 00:11:39.159 innuendo in there, and if you're just looking at it 199 00:11:39.200 --> 00:11:42.440 from the gross point of view, it's like, yeah, they're 200 00:11:42.480 --> 00:11:44.759 just kind of flashing back and forth and trying to 201 00:11:44.759 --> 00:11:47.759 find mates, but really they're actually trying to find like 202 00:11:47.840 --> 00:11:51.320 the best mates, and the females are really choosy and 203 00:11:51.360 --> 00:11:54.960 the males are really competitive, and they're doing all this stuff. 204 00:11:55.080 --> 00:11:58.639 All of this information is being passed in this beautiful 205 00:11:58.919 --> 00:12:03.759 visual channel that people can actually see. So, you know, 206 00:12:03.799 --> 00:12:07.639 a lot of insects communicate on other kinds of channels, 207 00:12:07.720 --> 00:12:11.879 like you know, smell or sound or ultrasound, different kinds 208 00:12:11.879 --> 00:12:14.399 of things that are a little bit harder to eavesdrop on. 209 00:12:14.799 --> 00:12:18.240 But fireflies are a beautiful thing because all of this 210 00:12:18.440 --> 00:12:21.759 courtship exchange is going on in visual signals that are 211 00:12:21.840 --> 00:12:26.080 really really easy for human beings to see, to record 212 00:12:26.559 --> 00:12:31.440 using electronic devices, and also to play back. And so 213 00:12:31.679 --> 00:12:34.159 one of the things that my students and I have 214 00:12:34.399 --> 00:12:38.440 been able to do is to evesdrop on the courtship 215 00:12:38.480 --> 00:12:43.519 conversations of these different kinds of fireflies and then to 216 00:12:43.559 --> 00:12:46.879 be able to play back, just to tweak the signals 217 00:12:46.879 --> 00:12:49.320 that males are giving a little bit, make them a 218 00:12:49.360 --> 00:12:52.039 little bit faster, make them a little bit longer, make 219 00:12:52.080 --> 00:12:55.200 them a little bit slower, and then play them back 220 00:12:55.240 --> 00:12:58.799 to female fireflies. And one of the great things about 221 00:12:59.000 --> 00:13:01.360 this isn't true for all fireflies, but a whole lot 222 00:13:01.360 --> 00:13:04.480 of the fireflies in the US engage in a we 223 00:13:04.559 --> 00:13:07.039 call it a courtship dialogue. So they talk back and forth. 224 00:13:07.080 --> 00:13:10.840 So the males are flying around, they're advertising their availability 225 00:13:10.840 --> 00:13:16.679 with this pretty stereotyped signal, and the females respond to 226 00:13:17.440 --> 00:13:20.919 these male signals if they like the male. If they 227 00:13:20.919 --> 00:13:23.519 don't like the male, they shut up. She ghosted you. 228 00:13:23.960 --> 00:13:26.840 They don't say anything at all. And so you can 229 00:13:26.960 --> 00:13:31.519 actually find out what a firefly female is thinking about 230 00:13:31.679 --> 00:13:35.679 a signal by just asking her and so It's kind 231 00:13:35.679 --> 00:13:38.120 of like conducting an opinion poll, right, you say, or 232 00:13:38.200 --> 00:13:39.840 you know, going to the eye doctor. You know, they 233 00:13:39.840 --> 00:13:42.120 put those lens things on you and they say, you know, 234 00:13:42.360 --> 00:13:45.200 is this better or is this better? Is this better? 235 00:13:45.279 --> 00:13:46.919 Or is this better? And you can do that to 236 00:13:46.960 --> 00:13:49.879 a female firefly and she will tell you, yeah, this 237 00:13:50.039 --> 00:13:52.039 is the signal that I like, wow. 238 00:13:51.840 --> 00:13:54.360 Are you doing that with little like led lights? 239 00:13:54.879 --> 00:13:59.639 Yes? Really exactly. Yeah, So that's been kind of fun. 240 00:13:59.720 --> 00:14:01.799 And one of the things that we discovered is that 241 00:14:01.840 --> 00:14:05.279 female fireflies are really kind of choosy about who they 242 00:14:05.559 --> 00:14:08.879 respond to. If the female doesn't respond, of course the 243 00:14:08.919 --> 00:14:12.759 male can't see her it's dark and so he won't 244 00:14:12.759 --> 00:14:16.200 be able to find her and mate. But if she 245 00:14:16.240 --> 00:14:20.159 does respond, there's like a whole frenzy. You know, she 246 00:14:20.279 --> 00:14:22.279 responds to one male, a whole bunch of males might 247 00:14:22.320 --> 00:14:24.799 see her. It gets to be like this very very 248 00:14:24.840 --> 00:14:30.240 exciting competitive dating scene. So yeah, I guess a lot 249 00:14:30.279 --> 00:14:33.799 of my adult life has been spent following fireflies around 250 00:14:33.799 --> 00:14:36.399 at night and watching their courtship and mating. It's a 251 00:14:36.440 --> 00:14:37.320 little strange. 252 00:14:37.720 --> 00:14:40.960 What kinds of questions and answers are they looking for? 253 00:14:41.039 --> 00:14:41.799 Are they looking for? 254 00:14:41.840 --> 00:14:42.080 Who? 255 00:14:42.159 --> 00:14:45.840 Has the shortest pulses or the longest light or is 256 00:14:45.879 --> 00:14:47.039 it species specific? 257 00:14:47.919 --> 00:14:52.120 Yeah, it differs with different species, but in general, it 258 00:14:52.399 --> 00:14:57.240 seems to be the females are looking for males that 259 00:14:57.399 --> 00:15:02.840 are a little bit more conspicuous within the parameters of 260 00:15:02.919 --> 00:15:07.039 their species specific flash code, right, a little bit more 261 00:15:07.039 --> 00:15:10.000 conspicuous than other males. So in some of the species 262 00:15:10.039 --> 00:15:14.600 where the males are giving like a single bleep, bleep, bleep, 263 00:15:15.080 --> 00:15:19.679 females will be looking for slightly longer leaps, not necessarily 264 00:15:19.720 --> 00:15:22.360 something that you could see with your eye or that 265 00:15:22.639 --> 00:15:25.240 you're with your brain with a human brain, but the 266 00:15:25.279 --> 00:15:28.679 brain of a female firefly can make those distinctions and 267 00:15:28.759 --> 00:15:33.120 they choose to respond to males that have slightly longer 268 00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:38.720 durations of those single flashes. And one of the things 269 00:15:38.759 --> 00:15:41.759 that we weren't actually looking for this, but one of 270 00:15:41.759 --> 00:15:44.600 the things that we discovered was that one of the 271 00:15:44.639 --> 00:15:49.480 reasons that female fireflies are so choosy is that males 272 00:15:49.559 --> 00:15:55.240 are giving females a present to the females. And it's 273 00:15:55.320 --> 00:15:59.840 called a nuptial gift, and totally that's really the scientific 274 00:16:00.279 --> 00:16:03.559 for it. It's like one of the best non jargon 275 00:16:03.759 --> 00:16:06.960 scientific terms, Like everybody understands the nuptial guest. 276 00:16:07.080 --> 00:16:07.960 Yeah, that's what it is. 277 00:16:08.080 --> 00:16:15.000 So during mating, male fireflies are giving females not just 278 00:16:15.120 --> 00:16:19.320 their gammets, right, not just their sperm, but also this package. 279 00:16:19.399 --> 00:16:22.120 And it's a really beautiful thing. It's like this very 280 00:16:22.120 --> 00:16:25.639 elaborate structure. If you happen to look inside a male firefly, 281 00:16:25.759 --> 00:16:28.720 which you know, probably most people never have a chance 282 00:16:28.799 --> 00:16:32.720 to do, but it's incredible what's inside. They don't really 283 00:16:32.799 --> 00:16:36.039 have a digestive tract or any of the other like 284 00:16:36.120 --> 00:16:39.440 you know, liver, spleen, stomach, all that stuff that we 285 00:16:39.559 --> 00:16:43.679 think of as internal organs. Their internal organs are basically 286 00:16:44.480 --> 00:16:50.360 reproductive glands that manufacture this elaborate package that is full 287 00:16:50.399 --> 00:16:55.080 of nutrients and they transfer that internally to the female 288 00:16:55.159 --> 00:16:58.919 while they're mating. And the males that have the more 289 00:16:59.039 --> 00:17:04.000 desirable lashes also turn out in many cases to have 290 00:17:04.400 --> 00:17:08.400 the larger nuptial gifts. And the nuptial gifts are a 291 00:17:08.400 --> 00:17:14.000 big deal for the females because they are full of protein, 292 00:17:14.400 --> 00:17:17.920 among other things that the female then can use to 293 00:17:18.279 --> 00:17:21.720 provision her eggs, and so females that get more nuptial 294 00:17:21.759 --> 00:17:26.799 gifts actually are able to lay more eggs. So that's 295 00:17:26.839 --> 00:17:28.400 a cool thing. I mean, why not choose. 296 00:17:29.079 --> 00:17:32.559 Yeah, I mean if you kind of know through advertising 297 00:17:32.680 --> 00:17:37.400 like okay, longer pulse, bigger gift, then there you go, 298 00:17:37.519 --> 00:17:39.519 like bigger sandwich, he's gonna bring me. 299 00:17:39.880 --> 00:17:42.000 Absolutely, we call it firefly bling. 300 00:17:42.480 --> 00:17:44.680 Just a side note. Right before recording this a few 301 00:17:44.680 --> 00:17:47.480 weeks ago, I was cranky as hell and I could 302 00:17:47.480 --> 00:17:49.680 not figure out why. And then I realized that we 303 00:17:49.720 --> 00:17:52.039 had run out of coffee that morning, and so Jared 304 00:17:52.480 --> 00:17:55.920 then simply my fiance ran out to get my favorite latte, 305 00:17:56.039 --> 00:17:58.839 as kind of a pre nuptial gift, one might say, 306 00:17:58.960 --> 00:18:01.599 And my tiny brain was indeed impressed, and I was 307 00:18:01.720 --> 00:18:04.599 very grateful to have those nutrients. And I feel like 308 00:18:04.880 --> 00:18:07.119 it's important to note that he did not deliver this 309 00:18:07.200 --> 00:18:11.440 latte internally or during a copulatory act, because I'm not. 310 00:18:11.599 --> 00:18:13.720 I don't have that big a coffee problem. 311 00:18:14.079 --> 00:18:16.559 And what about you? Are you a night person? How 312 00:18:16.640 --> 00:18:19.400 much of your work involves these really long nights? 313 00:18:20.039 --> 00:18:24.119 Yeah, it's crazy. You know, I don't know what people 314 00:18:24.200 --> 00:18:26.839 who live in the tropics were. Firefly season is all 315 00:18:26.920 --> 00:18:29.920 year round. I don't know how they survive because you know, 316 00:18:30.279 --> 00:18:32.640 in the temperate zone, you have a kind of a 317 00:18:32.680 --> 00:18:35.720 short firefly season. It might go from I don't know, 318 00:18:35.920 --> 00:18:40.720 like May until September, or maybe just June, July, August. 319 00:18:41.240 --> 00:18:46.079 And during the firefly season, my students and I basically 320 00:18:46.440 --> 00:18:49.400 we work day and night. We get so strung out 321 00:18:49.440 --> 00:18:52.240 it's ridiculous. We can't even think straight. People hate us, 322 00:18:52.279 --> 00:18:55.480 our partners like leave us, our dog, you know, walks out. 323 00:18:55.680 --> 00:18:57.920 It's really bad. You can do it for a few 324 00:18:57.960 --> 00:19:00.359 years and then you have to take a break. But 325 00:19:00.599 --> 00:19:03.000 you know, we're usually out in the field at night, 326 00:19:04.519 --> 00:19:09.559 and then we are often doing lab experiments with fireflies 327 00:19:09.559 --> 00:19:11.880 that we've collected from the field and then put on 328 00:19:11.960 --> 00:19:14.559 a reverse like light cycle so that they think it's 329 00:19:14.680 --> 00:19:18.319 nighttime when it's actually daytime. And so during the day 330 00:19:18.559 --> 00:19:21.480 we work in a dark room on fireflies that think 331 00:19:21.480 --> 00:19:23.920 it's night. So you can get kind of strung out 332 00:19:23.960 --> 00:19:26.960 on that for after a while, but you know, it's 333 00:19:27.079 --> 00:19:30.359 it's all worth it. Yeah, it's fabulous to be able 334 00:19:30.480 --> 00:19:36.359 to bring some of the magic of these creatures to 335 00:19:36.519 --> 00:19:39.359 light and to let people know, you know, that they're 336 00:19:39.400 --> 00:19:42.160 real and they're really really kind of amazing. 337 00:19:42.480 --> 00:19:45.119 They're real and they're spectacular. 338 00:19:45.759 --> 00:19:49.960 And you mentioned the tropics and the temperate zones. Does 339 00:19:49.960 --> 00:19:55.079 that mean that they don't inhabit like arid climates as much? 340 00:19:55.079 --> 00:19:56.640 Why don't we have them in California. 341 00:19:57.119 --> 00:20:02.440 Yeah. So another myth that I I am actually really 342 00:20:02.480 --> 00:20:06.759 glad to well happy to be able to debunk is 343 00:20:07.400 --> 00:20:10.000 that a lot of people think that there aren't any 344 00:20:10.039 --> 00:20:14.599 fireflies in the Western United States and that's not true. 345 00:20:15.079 --> 00:20:18.240 So happy, you should be happy. You should be happy 346 00:20:18.319 --> 00:20:24.160 because there are. So there's at least three different kinds 347 00:20:24.160 --> 00:20:28.240 of fireflies. There's the daytime fireflies. They fly during the daytime. 348 00:20:28.480 --> 00:20:30.480 The adults don't light up even though the larvae do. 349 00:20:30.559 --> 00:20:33.440 They're still in the same firefly family. There's lots of 350 00:20:33.440 --> 00:20:37.119 those in California and in the West. There are also 351 00:20:38.079 --> 00:20:43.440 glow worm fireflies, where the females typically well the females 352 00:20:43.480 --> 00:20:48.480 glow typically they are worm like, as in, they don't fly. 353 00:20:49.240 --> 00:20:53.240 And there's really really cool glow worm fireflies on the 354 00:20:53.240 --> 00:20:57.759 West Coast, including you got to google this, the California 355 00:20:57.880 --> 00:21:01.400 pink glow worm. Oh my god, there's so beautiful. They 356 00:21:01.400 --> 00:21:04.839 are really beautiful and they're all over California. And I 357 00:21:04.880 --> 00:21:07.799 don't know why people don't recognize those as fireflies. The 358 00:21:07.839 --> 00:21:10.279 males don't light off, but the females do. They glow 359 00:21:10.359 --> 00:21:14.200 for hours to attract these flying unlit males, and they're 360 00:21:14.240 --> 00:21:15.079 really really cool. 361 00:21:15.519 --> 00:21:19.359 Okay, hold the phone, boy, Howdy hot damn what? 362 00:21:19.599 --> 00:21:19.920 Okay? 363 00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:24.759 So I'm a lifelong Californian, absolute sniveling simp for bugs, 364 00:21:24.920 --> 00:21:27.640 and yet this is the first I'm hearing ever of 365 00:21:27.680 --> 00:21:33.680 the pink glowworm alias the firefly beetle, microphotos and gustus. Now, 366 00:21:33.799 --> 00:21:37.480 the ladies stay kind of babylike in a larva ish form, 367 00:21:37.799 --> 00:21:40.799 and they just cruise the leaf litter, kind of like 368 00:21:40.920 --> 00:21:45.359 salmon colored segmented tiny hot dogs. And then their soulmates 369 00:21:45.400 --> 00:21:48.559 are dude beetles who fly around, not glowing, but just 370 00:21:48.599 --> 00:21:51.240 looking out for butts. Now, I have spent my life 371 00:21:51.400 --> 00:21:55.160 jealous of New Jersey and ignoring all of these horny, 372 00:21:55.519 --> 00:21:59.440 babylike sparkle butts under my California nose. But as long 373 00:21:59.480 --> 00:22:02.519 as we're getting regional, I covered this ages ago in 374 00:22:02.519 --> 00:22:05.559 in minnesot You probably never heard. But do you call 375 00:22:05.640 --> 00:22:09.519 them you personally? Do you call them fireflies or lightning bugs? 376 00:22:09.680 --> 00:22:13.319 Take a moment, vote aloud while you're layering up a 377 00:22:13.400 --> 00:22:17.039 lasagna or welding something or brushing a chinchilla. 378 00:22:17.319 --> 00:22:18.960 Lightning bugs. 379 00:22:19.039 --> 00:22:23.039 Okay, I hope one of you said peeni walies. Because 380 00:22:23.079 --> 00:22:26.000 a University of Cambridge linguistics professor by the name of 381 00:22:26.079 --> 00:22:30.000 Bert Voe also needed to know firefly or lightning bug. 382 00:22:30.319 --> 00:22:34.319 So he asked ten thousand Americans what they call sparkle butts. 383 00:22:34.599 --> 00:22:37.440 Forty percent of you go either way, firefly, lightning bug, 384 00:22:37.480 --> 00:22:42.160 you don't care. Thirty percent of us are exclusively team firefly. Hello, 385 00:22:42.200 --> 00:22:47.440 West Coast High Massachusetts, and about another thirty percent say yeah, no, 386 00:22:47.720 --> 00:22:52.240 it's lightning bug. The South greetings to you. But to 387 00:22:52.359 --> 00:22:57.000 my delight and probably Professor Voe's the futtlement, zero point 388 00:22:57.359 --> 00:23:00.720 two percent of those people he polled call these glowing 389 00:23:01.079 --> 00:23:06.279 summer acuties peenie wallies. So that's two people in a 390 00:23:06.319 --> 00:23:10.759 study of ten thousand, and if they are not already friends, oh, 391 00:23:10.759 --> 00:23:12.759 I hope they find each other. I want them to 392 00:23:12.759 --> 00:23:16.160 hold hands and just stare into the summer dusk. So 393 00:23:16.279 --> 00:23:19.279 my point is we need not be a nation divided 394 00:23:19.960 --> 00:23:23.680 on the topic of peenie wallies, especially now, because. 395 00:23:23.920 --> 00:23:26.839 And the other exciting news and this is something that 396 00:23:26.839 --> 00:23:30.519 we're really just actually, this is really really recent that 397 00:23:30.559 --> 00:23:35.400 we have begun to realize that there are flashing fireflies 398 00:23:35.480 --> 00:23:38.440 in the Western United States. So there's actually there's a 399 00:23:38.480 --> 00:23:42.119 Western Firefly Project that's run out of the Natural History 400 00:23:42.240 --> 00:23:49.480 Museum of Utah and they've been mapping flashing fireflies in Utah, Nevada, 401 00:23:50.640 --> 00:23:55.920