WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:02.799 Oh hey, it's that key that's under the mat that 2 00:00:02.919 --> 00:00:06.040 somehow nobody finds and uses to steal all your stuff. 3 00:00:06.040 --> 00:00:08.640 Ali Ward back, I'm back. I'm just plain old home 4 00:00:08.800 --> 00:00:12.160 after a few weeks away, getting hitched, hanging out with 5 00:00:12.240 --> 00:00:16.039 family in Montana, being off my phone, eating too many 6 00:00:16.039 --> 00:00:19.359 fried cheese curds. I swam in a lake, I laughed 7 00:00:19.359 --> 00:00:21.760 with my aunties, and I was a wife for the 8 00:00:21.760 --> 00:00:24.199 first time of my life. But I'm back. We have 9 00:00:24.280 --> 00:00:27.239 fireflies for you, or do we have lightning bugs? We're 10 00:00:27.239 --> 00:00:29.800 going to get into it. So these glowing friends, they're 11 00:00:29.839 --> 00:00:34.119 neither flies nor true bugs, rather beatles in the family 12 00:00:34.679 --> 00:00:38.119 lamparade e. But as you will soon learn, this episode's 13 00:00:38.200 --> 00:00:41.200 name comes at an expert's behest. So she is a 14 00:00:41.240 --> 00:00:44.119 professor of biology at Tufts University in Boston. She did 15 00:00:44.200 --> 00:00:47.880 a TED talk on these beloved little critters. She's the 16 00:00:47.920 --> 00:00:51.920 author of the information pact and entertaining book Silent Sparks 17 00:00:52.240 --> 00:00:55.159 The Wondrous World of Fireflies. You may know her on 18 00:00:55.200 --> 00:00:58.039 Twitter under the handle Silent Sparks. And I was introduced 19 00:00:58.039 --> 00:01:01.439 to her through Eric Eaton, who was our wasp champion 20 00:01:01.520 --> 00:01:03.920 a few episodes back, and I jumped at the chance 21 00:01:04.239 --> 00:01:06.640 to talk to her. Crammed it in the schedule a 22 00:01:06.719 --> 00:01:08.840 day or two before my wedding earlier this month, and 23 00:01:08.920 --> 00:01:11.200 we will get to know her work. And just a second, 24 00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:13.400 but super quick, thank you to everyone at patreon dot 25 00:01:13.439 --> 00:01:16.439 com slash Ologies for making this show possible for the 26 00:01:16.560 --> 00:01:19.480 four years we've been around, and for submitting great questions 27 00:01:19.480 --> 00:01:22.439 every week. Thank you to everyone for keeping Ologies in 28 00:01:22.519 --> 00:01:25.879 the number two spot on Apple podcast Science with your 29 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:28.760 ratings and reviews. And I just read all that you 30 00:01:28.920 --> 00:01:31.719 left and you know how to make a dad word 31 00:01:31.959 --> 00:01:34.760 feel cool. Each week I pick a fresh one. And 32 00:01:34.799 --> 00:01:37.879 thanks Megan Sir for writing the review for the first 33 00:01:37.879 --> 00:01:39.719 time since I was a kid. I am amazed by 34 00:01:39.760 --> 00:01:43.799 science Ologies unlocks life's mysteries and enables you to see 35 00:01:43.840 --> 00:01:47.799 all of its beauties. So happy to be your rusty 36 00:01:47.879 --> 00:01:50.319 key for that, Megan. And thank you to everyone whose 37 00:01:50.359 --> 00:01:55.480 reviews I creepily read literally all of them. Okay, onward Sparkle, 38 00:01:55.560 --> 00:01:58.239 but Ology. You're going to learn the etymology in a minute. 39 00:01:58.280 --> 00:02:00.359 I'm not even go there in the intro, but you 40 00:02:00.400 --> 00:02:03.359 will also get hip to how these animals light up, 41 00:02:03.680 --> 00:02:08.159 why they light up our hearts, their luminous, sexy language. 42 00:02:08.319 --> 00:02:11.879 The best firefly photography accounts to follow, How to take 43 00:02:11.919 --> 00:02:16.719 your own pictures, dos and don'ts of firefly observation. Is 44 00:02:16.759 --> 00:02:20.439 it actually okay to put them in jars on your nightstands? 45 00:02:20.560 --> 00:02:25.039 Or are you a monster? Cobalt ghosts, pink glowworms, fem 46 00:02:25.120 --> 00:02:29.280 fatales of the firefly world. How their populations are doing 47 00:02:29.520 --> 00:02:33.120 if artificial lights affect them, How to join conservation efforts, 48 00:02:33.120 --> 00:02:37.159 and why Western states need not suffer from sparkle but 49 00:02:37.439 --> 00:02:45.840 envy any longer. With firefly scientists, evolutionary ecologist, researcher, conservation advocate, professor, author, 50 00:02:45.919 --> 00:02:50.960 and perhaps the world's first and only self proclaimed sparkle botologist, 51 00:02:51.319 --> 00:03:00.400 Doctor Sarah Lewis. 52 00:03:12.840 --> 00:03:16.120 My name is Sarah Lewis and I use she her 53 00:03:16.759 --> 00:03:17.879 let us dive. 54 00:03:19.360 --> 00:03:25.560 Great, Doctor Lewis, thank you so much for joining your ology. 55 00:03:25.800 --> 00:03:28.520 Is it lamp perology? Would that be what it is? 56 00:03:28.840 --> 00:03:32.439 You know, this is really really a hard decision. I 57 00:03:32.520 --> 00:03:35.080 spent a lot of time in the last day thinking 58 00:03:35.080 --> 00:03:37.919 about this, and so I don't know. I don't like 59 00:03:38.039 --> 00:03:41.080 lamper I don't like that one at all. What about 60 00:03:41.159 --> 00:03:48.680 lightning bugology? Or I don't know like sparkle buttology. There's 61 00:03:48.759 --> 00:03:51.960 so many really great ones. You know, why use the 62 00:03:51.960 --> 00:03:55.039 family scientific name? It just doesn't seem right. 63 00:03:55.879 --> 00:03:57.240 Sparkle buttology. 64 00:03:57.360 --> 00:04:00.960 It is, okay, I like that one, too good or agreed. 65 00:04:01.719 --> 00:04:05.439 You are one of the world's most well known firefly 66 00:04:05.960 --> 00:04:10.840 experts and scientists and enthusiasts, and can you tell me 67 00:04:10.919 --> 00:04:15.199 a little bit about your relationship with bugs in general? 68 00:04:15.199 --> 00:04:18.040 Have you always been pro bug so? 69 00:04:19.480 --> 00:04:23.839 Yeah, you know, no, I haven't. In fact, I don't 70 00:04:24.040 --> 00:04:32.000 like every single insect. I am completely completely in love 71 00:04:32.160 --> 00:04:35.600 with fireflies, and I think that most people are. You know, 72 00:04:35.839 --> 00:04:38.759 I know a lot of people who don't really like insects. 73 00:04:38.800 --> 00:04:41.480 In fact, they have kind of you know, entomophobia. 74 00:04:41.759 --> 00:04:45.560 Oh, we don't like bugs, Honie, they don't like bugs. 75 00:04:45.680 --> 00:04:50.399 But I've really never met a single person who didn't 76 00:04:50.600 --> 00:04:55.000 like fireflies, so they're you know, they're kind of unique 77 00:04:55.040 --> 00:04:58.240 in that way, right, Like even insect haters love fireflies. 78 00:04:58.319 --> 00:05:01.600 Of course, many people don't realize that fireflies are insects, 79 00:05:01.680 --> 00:05:03.560 so huh. 80 00:05:02.879 --> 00:05:04.439 Yeah, what do you think they think they. 81 00:05:04.240 --> 00:05:10.439 Are magical fairies? Yeah? Absolutely. I spend an inordinate amount 82 00:05:10.480 --> 00:05:13.279 of time trying to sort of educate and advocate for 83 00:05:13.360 --> 00:05:16.079 fireflies on social media, and so one of the things 84 00:05:16.120 --> 00:05:18.000 I've noticed on Twitter is that there's a lot of 85 00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:21.160 people who don't actually think that fireflies exist. They think 86 00:05:21.199 --> 00:05:24.000 they're like something that's in children's stories. It's kind of 87 00:05:24.040 --> 00:05:26.759 like a myth. And uh huh, Yeah, there really aren't 88 00:05:26.800 --> 00:05:29.519 any fireflies as far as they're concerned. They just don't 89 00:05:29.560 --> 00:05:30.000 believe it. 90 00:05:30.480 --> 00:05:32.560 I mean, I felt that way about huckleberries, and then 91 00:05:32.560 --> 00:05:34.759 I found out they were a real food. It was 92 00:05:34.800 --> 00:05:38.759 like a huckleberry exists. So fireflies, I guess that's a 93 00:05:38.800 --> 00:05:42.519 first flim flam to debunk, is that fireflies are non existent, 94 00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:43.959 but they're not fixed. They're real. 95 00:05:44.759 --> 00:05:48.000 Yeah, there's so many really cool myths tod bunk about fireflies. 96 00:05:48.040 --> 00:05:50.360 I just love it. You know, it's like so much fun. Right, 97 00:05:50.759 --> 00:05:51.439 what are their myths? 98 00:05:51.480 --> 00:05:54.160 Do you feel like people come at you to ask about? 99 00:05:54.639 --> 00:05:58.800 Okay, so, first, they are real, that's cool. And yeah. 100 00:05:58.839 --> 00:06:00.959 The other thing is that a lot of people think, 101 00:06:01.040 --> 00:06:03.720 you know, you've seen one firefly, you've seen them all, 102 00:06:04.279 --> 00:06:08.439 but there's actually a lot of different kinds of fireflies, 103 00:06:08.759 --> 00:06:14.240 and so yeah, there's a tremendous diversity in terms of 104 00:06:14.279 --> 00:06:18.439 their behavior and their lifestyles and the kinds of things 105 00:06:18.480 --> 00:06:20.839 that they like to do, the kinds of things they 106 00:06:20.920 --> 00:06:23.839 like to eat. And so that's really cool. Like there's 107 00:06:23.879 --> 00:06:26.680 not just one kind of firefly. If you believe that 108 00:06:26.680 --> 00:06:29.360 fireflies are real, you might think there's just one that 109 00:06:29.399 --> 00:06:32.920 there's there's actually about well more than two thousand different 110 00:06:32.959 --> 00:06:36.639 species of firefly, and it turns out we're discovering new 111 00:06:36.639 --> 00:06:39.120 ones all the time. 112 00:06:39.439 --> 00:06:42.600 Oh that's cool. How big and how small do they get? 113 00:06:43.120 --> 00:06:46.279 Hmm? So they can be pretty tiny, like you can 114 00:06:46.319 --> 00:06:49.800 still see them with your naked eyes, so not that tiny, 115 00:06:50.319 --> 00:06:53.160 and they can also get really big. A couple of 116 00:06:53.240 --> 00:06:55.680 years ago, I was in Malaysia and I had a 117 00:06:55.759 --> 00:07:00.360 chance to see these. They're kind of giant flight lists 118 00:07:00.560 --> 00:07:04.360 female fireflies. They're like the females are like the size 119 00:07:04.399 --> 00:07:08.319 of your thumb, Oh, a big thumb, right, So they're 120 00:07:08.399 --> 00:07:12.240 usually and they don't have any wings. They actually they 121 00:07:12.720 --> 00:07:18.079 kind of look wormish and they are they're pale, and 122 00:07:18.160 --> 00:07:21.600 they're big, and they're full of eggs and they crawl 123 00:07:21.639 --> 00:07:24.839 around on the ground. And the genus is Lampigera. And 124 00:07:24.879 --> 00:07:27.879 they're actually really cool because the males look like regular 125 00:07:28.199 --> 00:07:31.680 little fireflies, but the females are giant, much much bigger 126 00:07:31.720 --> 00:07:34.360 than the males, and they are like putting all of 127 00:07:34.399 --> 00:07:37.639 their energy into reproduction. They don't bother flying around, like, 128 00:07:37.839 --> 00:07:40.199 you know, why bother. I'll just sit here let the 129 00:07:40.240 --> 00:07:40.920 males come to me. 130 00:07:41.519 --> 00:07:44.439 So some of these lady lightning bugs endemic to Asia 131 00:07:44.639 --> 00:07:47.959 would fill up your whole palm had you the chance 132 00:07:48.199 --> 00:07:53.160 to hold one. They are wingless, dense, pregnant, with a 133 00:07:53.199 --> 00:07:56.959 button that blinks like a flickering neon sign. Kind of 134 00:07:57.000 --> 00:07:59.600 like the sexy job of the hut of fireflies with 135 00:07:59.680 --> 00:08:03.480 a real flashy ass. Now much different than the airborne 136 00:08:03.720 --> 00:08:07.079 field fairies that folks in North America might be used to. 137 00:08:07.519 --> 00:08:10.240 When did you first encounter them? Because I grew up 138 00:08:10.279 --> 00:08:12.240 in California, so I didn't see one until I was 139 00:08:12.240 --> 00:08:14.360 out of college when I went to New Jersey one summer. 140 00:08:14.560 --> 00:08:17.000 But when did you first encounter fireflies? 141 00:08:17.199 --> 00:08:19.319 Yeah? You know, it's funny. A lot of people have 142 00:08:19.439 --> 00:08:23.399 these like origin stories of like first seen fireflies when 143 00:08:23.399 --> 00:08:25.079 they were kids and they just fell in love and 144 00:08:25.079 --> 00:08:27.160 they've been in love with fireflies ever since. It's like 145 00:08:27.639 --> 00:08:30.879 a childhood nostalgia thing for many people. I grew up 146 00:08:30.920 --> 00:08:35.320 in Connecticut but I don't remember seeing fireflies until I 147 00:08:35.399 --> 00:08:40.559 was actually in school in North Carolina and I was 148 00:08:40.600 --> 00:08:44.600 a marine biologist, and I was waiting to go to 149 00:08:44.879 --> 00:08:48.360 the field in Belize where I was studying coral reef ecology. 150 00:08:48.679 --> 00:08:50.639 And I was sitting out on my back porch and 151 00:08:50.919 --> 00:08:54.759 with my dog, and it was like late afternoon, and 152 00:08:54.840 --> 00:08:57.600 a thunderstorm was rolling in, and so suddenly it got 153 00:08:57.679 --> 00:09:00.759 darker and darker and darker, and just before started to rain, 154 00:09:01.320 --> 00:09:04.879 I noticed that all around us in the grass, there 155 00:09:04.919 --> 00:09:08.320 were these lights that were coming out of the grass 156 00:09:08.440 --> 00:09:12.960 and slowly rising up, and they were like the silent sparks, 157 00:09:13.039 --> 00:09:16.440 like embers, coming out of the grass and just filling 158 00:09:16.480 --> 00:09:20.879 the air all around me. And it was like, whoa, 159 00:09:21.279 --> 00:09:24.879 what is going on here? That is the first time, honestly, 160 00:09:25.200 --> 00:09:29.639 I remember seeing fireflies. It was like, huh, this is amazing. 161 00:09:30.279 --> 00:09:34.600 When did you sort of turn your sail from the 162 00:09:34.639 --> 00:09:37.399 marine studies back to land? 163 00:09:37.919 --> 00:09:40.759 Yeah, well, you know, it's been us kind of evolution 164 00:09:42.080 --> 00:09:44.559 of interests. And one of the great things about being 165 00:09:44.600 --> 00:09:47.279 in academia is that you have like you can kind 166 00:09:47.279 --> 00:09:52.159 of follow your curiosity. And that night, actually my curiosity 167 00:09:52.240 --> 00:09:55.600 got sparked and I started to wonder, like, what the 168 00:09:55.600 --> 00:09:58.159 heck is going on here? Like who is flying? What 169 00:09:58.279 --> 00:10:00.799 are they flashing about? Who are are they talking to? 170 00:10:01.080 --> 00:10:05.919 What are they saying? And so in my copious free time, 171 00:10:06.320 --> 00:10:09.440 I got to sort of investigate some of those questions 172 00:10:09.440 --> 00:10:13.039 and reach out to the to the firefly experts that 173 00:10:13.240 --> 00:10:16.399 I could find in the US and elsewhere, and to 174 00:10:16.559 --> 00:10:20.120 start to put together like what do we know about fireflies? 175 00:10:20.159 --> 00:10:22.600 And what are the big sort of missing pieces, what 176 00:10:22.759 --> 00:10:27.840 don't we know and where can I contribute to trying 177 00:10:27.840 --> 00:10:30.639 to answer some of these questions. And so after I 178 00:10:30.679 --> 00:10:31.360 got my PhD. 179 00:10:31.840 --> 00:10:34.960 Doctor Lewis got her PhD in coral reef ecology in 180 00:10:35.080 --> 00:10:38.200 nineteen eighty four from Duke University in. 181 00:10:38.200 --> 00:10:43.080 North Carolina, I moved to Massachusetts and started working on fireflies. 182 00:10:43.159 --> 00:10:46.440 And I don't want to say that I've worked continuously 183 00:10:46.519 --> 00:10:48.759 on fireflies, but a lot of the work that my 184 00:10:48.759 --> 00:10:53.080 students and I have done has been looking at the 185 00:10:53.639 --> 00:11:01.279 kind of intimate details of firefly sex lives and courts 186 00:11:01.320 --> 00:11:05.039 chip and it's been really fascinating. We've been able to 187 00:11:05.360 --> 00:11:09.080 like discover all this, you know, really really cool stuff. 188 00:11:09.240 --> 00:11:13.799 Would you say that's primarily why they're flashing their morse code. 189 00:11:13.919 --> 00:11:17.720 Is that pretty much booty calls like in a literal sense, yep. 190 00:11:17.559 --> 00:11:21.360 Yep, yep, yep, yep it is. And yeah, so it's 191 00:11:21.399 --> 00:11:24.279 subtle and there are you know, there's all kinds of 192 00:11:24.279 --> 00:11:27.480 innuendo in there, and if you're just looking at it 193 00:11:27.519 --> 00:11:30.759 from the gross point of view, it's like, yeah, they're 194 00:11:30.799 --> 00:11:33.080 just kind of flashing back and forth and trying to 195 00:11:33.080 --> 00:11:36.080 find mates, but really they're actually trying to find like 196 00:11:36.159 --> 00:11:39.639 the best mates, and the females are really choosy and 197 00:11:39.679 --> 00:11:43.279 the males are really competitive, and they're doing all this stuff. 198 00:11:43.399 --> 00:11:46.960 All of this information is being passed in this beautiful 199 00:11:47.240 --> 00:11:52.080 visual channel that people can actually see. So, you know, 200 00:11:52.120 --> 00:11:55.960 a lot of insects communicate on other kinds of channels, 201 00:11:56.039 --> 00:12:00.559 like you know, smell or sound or ultrasound, different things 202 00:12:00.559 --> 00:12:03.279 that are a little bit harder to eavesdrop on. But 203 00:12:03.399 --> 00:12:07.200 fireflies are a beautiful thing because all of this courtship 204 00:12:07.200 --> 00:12:10.440 exchange is going on in visual signals that are really 205 00:12:10.440 --> 00:12:15.200 really easy for human beings to see, to record using 206 00:12:15.480 --> 00:12:20.200 electronic devices, and also to play back. And so one 207 00:12:20.200 --> 00:12:22.879 of the things that my students and I have been 208 00:12:22.919 --> 00:12:27.679 able to do is to evesdrop on the courtship conversations 209 00:12:27.960 --> 00:12:31.960 of these different kinds of fireflies, and then to be 210 00:12:32.039 --> 00:12:35.279 able to play back, just to tweak the signals that 211 00:12:35.360 --> 00:12:37.919 males are giving a little bit, make them a little 212 00:12:37.960 --> 00:12:40.559 bit faster, make them a little bit longer, make them 213 00:12:40.559 --> 00:12:43.679 a little bit slower, and then play them back to 214 00:12:43.960 --> 00:12:47.480 female fireflies. And one of the great things about this 215 00:12:47.519 --> 00:12:49.759 isn't true for all fireflies, but a whole lot of 216 00:12:49.759 --> 00:12:53.000 the fireflies in the US engage in a we call 217 00:12:53.039 --> 00:12:55.360 it a courtship dialogue. So they talk back and forth. 218 00:12:55.399 --> 00:12:59.159 So the males are flying around, they're advertising their availability 219 00:12:59.200 --> 00:13:05.039 with this pretty stereotyped signal, and the females respond to 220 00:13:05.759 --> 00:13:09.240 these male signals if they like the male. If they 221 00:13:09.240 --> 00:13:10.720 don't like the male, they shut up. 222 00:13:11.039 --> 00:13:11.840 She ghosted you. 223 00:13:12.279 --> 00:13:15.159 They don't say anything at all. And so you can 224 00:13:15.279 --> 00:13:19.840 actually find out what a firefly female is thinking about 225 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:24.000 a signal by just asking her. And so it's kind 226 00:13:24.000 --> 00:13:26.440 of like conducting an opinion poll, right you say, or 227 00:13:26.519 --> 00:13:28.159 you know, going to the eye doctor, you know, they 228 00:13:28.159 --> 00:13:30.440 put those lens things on you and they say, you know, 229 00:13:30.679 --> 00:13:33.519 is this better or is this better? Is this better? 230 00:13:33.600 --> 00:13:35.240 Or is this better? And you can do that to 231 00:13:35.279 --> 00:13:38.200 a female firefly, and she will tell you, yeah, this 232 00:13:38.360 --> 00:13:40.440 is the signal that I like, Wow. 233 00:13:40.159 --> 00:13:42.720 Are you doing that with little like led lights? 234 00:13:43.200 --> 00:13:47.960 Yes? Really exactly. Yeah, So that's been kind of fun. 235 00:13:48.039 --> 00:13:50.120 And one of the things that we discovered is that 236 00:13:50.159 --> 00:13:53.600 female fireflies are really kind of choosy about who they 237 00:13:53.879 --> 00:13:57.240 respond to. If the female doesn't respond, of course the 238 00:13:57.279 --> 00:14:01.080 male can't see her. It's dark and so he won't 239 00:14:01.080 --> 00:14:04.519 be able to find her and mate. But if she 240 00:14:04.559 --> 00:14:08.519 does respond, there's like a whole frenzy. You know, she 241 00:14:08.600 --> 00:14:10.600 responds to one male, a whole bunch of males might 242 00:14:10.639 --> 00:14:13.120 see her. It gets to be like this very very 243 00:14:13.159 --> 00:14:18.559 exciting competitive dating scene. So yeah, I guess a lot 244 00:14:18.600 --> 00:14:22.120 of my adult life has been spent following fireflies around 245 00:14:22.120 --> 00:14:24.720 at night and watching their courtship and mating. It's a 246 00:14:24.759 --> 00:14:25.639 little strange. 247 00:14:26.039 --> 00:14:29.279 What kinds of questions and answers are they looking for? 248 00:14:29.360 --> 00:14:32.480 Are they looking for who has the shortest pulses or 249 00:14:32.519 --> 00:14:35.360 the longest light or is it species specific? 250 00:14:36.240 --> 00:14:40.440 Yeah, it differs with different species, but in general, it 251 00:14:40.720 --> 00:14:45.559 seems to be the females are looking for males that 252 00:14:45.720 --> 00:14:51.159 are a little bit more conspicuous within the parameters of 253 00:14:51.240 --> 00:14:55.360 their species specific flash code, right, a little bit more 254 00:14:55.360 --> 00:14:58.320 conspicuous than other males. So in some of the species 255 00:14:58.360 --> 00:15:02.919 where the males are giving like a s bleep, bleep, bleep, 256 00:15:03.399 --> 00:15:08.000 females will be looking for slightly longer leaps, not necessarily 257 00:15:08.039 --> 00:15:10.720 something that you could see with your eye or that 258 00:15:10.960 --> 00:15:13.559 you're with your brain with a human brain, but the 259 00:15:13.600 --> 00:15:17.039 brain of a female firefly can make those distinctions and 260 00:15:17.080 --> 00:15:21.440 they choose to respond to males that have slightly longer 261 00:15:22.320 --> 00:15:27.039 durations of those single flashes. And one of the things 262 00:15:27.080 --> 00:15:30.080 that we weren't actually looking for this, but one of 263 00:15:30.080 --> 00:15:32.919 the things that we discovered was that one of the 264 00:15:32.960 --> 00:15:37.799 reasons that female fireflies are so choosy is that males 265 00:15:37.879 --> 00:15:43.559 are giving females a present to the females. And it's 266 00:15:43.639 --> 00:15:48.279 called a nuptial gift. And totally that's really the scientific 267 00:15:48.360 --> 00:15:51.039 term for it. It's like one of the best non 268 00:15:51.440 --> 00:15:55.639 jargon scientific terms, Like everybody understands a nuptial gift. Yeah, 269 00:15:55.679 --> 00:16:01.519 that's what it is. So during mating, male fireflies are 270 00:16:01.679 --> 00:16:05.600 giving females not just their gammets, right, not just their sperm, 271 00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:09.519 but also this package. And it's a really beautiful thing. 272 00:16:09.559 --> 00:16:12.480 It's like this very elaborate structure. If you happen to 273 00:16:12.519 --> 00:16:15.919 look inside a male firefly, which you know, probably most 274 00:16:15.960 --> 00:16:19.440 people never have a chance to do, but it's incredible 275 00:16:19.480 --> 00:16:23.240 what's inside. They don't really have a digestive tract or 276 00:16:23.279 --> 00:16:26.759 any of the other like you know, liver, spleen, stomach, 277 00:16:26.840 --> 00:16:29.440 all that stuff that we think of as internal organs. 278 00:16:29.759 --> 00:16:35.440 Their internal organs are basically reproductive glands that manufacture this 279 00:16:35.639 --> 00:16:41.200 elaborate package that is full of nutrients and they transfer 280 00:16:41.320 --> 00:16:44.919 that internally to the female while they're mating. And the 281 00:16:44.919 --> 00:16:50.879 males that have the more desirable flashes also turn out 282 00:16:51.039 --> 00:16:55.399 in many cases to have the larger nuptial gifts. And 283 00:16:55.480 --> 00:16:58.279 the nuptial gifts are a big deal for the females 284 00:16:58.360 --> 00:17:04.200 because they are full of protein, among other things that 285 00:17:04.240 --> 00:17:07.759 the female then can use to provision her eggs, and 286 00:17:07.799 --> 00:17:11.799 so females that get more nuptial gifts actually are able 287 00:17:11.880 --> 00:17:15.920 to lay more eggs. So that's a cool thing. I mean, 288 00:17:15.960 --> 00:17:16.759 why not choose? 289 00:17:17.400 --> 00:17:20.880 Yeah, I mean if you kind of know through advertising 290 00:17:21.000 --> 00:17:25.720 like okay, longer pulse, bigger gift, then there you go, 291 00:17:25.839 --> 00:17:27.839 like bigger sandwich, he's gonna bring me. 292 00:17:28.240 --> 00:17:30.359 Absolutely, we call it firefly bling. 293 00:17:30.799 --> 00:17:33.000 Just a side note, Right before recording this a few 294 00:17:33.000 --> 00:17:35.799 weeks ago, I was cranky as hell and I could 295 00:17:35.799 --> 00:17:38.000 not figure out why. And then I realized that we 296 00:17:38.039 --> 00:17:40.359 had run out of coffee that morning, and so Jared 297 00:17:40.799 --> 00:17:44.279 then simply my fiance ran out to get my favorite latte, 298 00:17:44.359 --> 00:17:47.160 as kind of a pre nuptial gift, one might say. 299 00:17:47.279 --> 00:17:49.920 And my tiny brain was indeed impressed, and I was 300 00:17:50.039 --> 00:17:52.920 very grateful to have those nutrients. And I feel like 301 00:17:53.160 --> 00:17:55.440 it's important to note that he did not deliver this 302 00:17:55.559 --> 00:17:59.799 latte internally or during a copulatory act, because I'm not. 303 00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:02.839 I don't have that big a coffee problem. And what 304 00:18:03.000 --> 00:18:05.279 about you? Are you a night person? How much of 305 00:18:05.319 --> 00:18:07.720 your work involves these really long nights? 306 00:18:08.359 --> 00:18:12.519 Yeah, it's crazy. You know, I don't know what people 307 00:18:12.519 --> 00:18:15.160 who live in the tropics where firefly season is all 308 00:18:15.240 --> 00:18:18.240 year round, I don't know how they survive, because, you know, 309 00:18:18.599 --> 00:18:20.960 in the temperate zone, you have a kind of a 310 00:18:21.000 --> 00:18:24.039 short firefly season. It might go from I don't know, 311 00:18:24.240 --> 00:18:29.039 like May until September, or maybe just June, July, August. 312 00:18:29.559 --> 00:18:34.440 And during the firefly season, my students and I basically 313 00:18:34.759 --> 00:18:37.720 we work day and night. We get so strung out, 314 00:18:37.759 --> 00:18:40.559 it's ridiculous. We can't even think straight. People hate us, 315 00:18:40.599 --> 00:18:43.799 our partners like leave us, our dog, you know, walks out. 316 00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:46.240 It's really bad. You can do it for a few 317 00:18:46.319 --> 00:18:48.640 years and then you have to take a break. But 318 00:18:48.920 --> 00:18:51.319 you know, we're usually out in the field at night, 319 00:18:52.880 --> 00:18:57.839 and then we are often doing lab experiments with fireflies 320 00:18:57.880 --> 00:19:00.359 that we've collected from the field and then on a 321 00:19:00.400 --> 00:19:03.400 reverse like light cycle so that they think it's nighttime 322 00:19:03.440 --> 00:19:06.920 when it's actually daytime. And so during the day we 323 00:19:07.079 --> 00:19:10.240 work in a dark room on fireflies that think it's night. 324 00:19:10.559 --> 00:19:12.519 So you can get kind of strung out on that 325 00:19:12.599 --> 00:19:15.759 for after a while, but you know, it's it's all 326 00:19:15.759 --> 00:19:20.200 worth it. Yeah, it's fabulous to be able to bring 327 00:19:20.440 --> 00:19:25.440 some of the magic of these creatures to light and 328 00:19:25.480 --> 00:19:28.599 to let people know, you know, that they're real and 329 00:19:28.799 --> 00:19:30.480 they're really really kind of amazing. 330 00:19:30.799 --> 00:19:35.799 They're real and they're spectacular. And you mentioned the tropics 331 00:19:35.920 --> 00:19:40.880 and the temperate zones. Does that mean that they don't 332 00:19:41.400 --> 00:19:44.039 inhabit like arid climates as much? Why don't we have 333 00:19:44.079 --> 00:19:44.960 them in California? 334 00:19:45.440 --> 00:19:51.200 Yeah, So another myth that I am actually really glad 335 00:19:51.720 --> 00:19:55.839 to well, happy to be able to debunk is that 336 00:19:56.079 --> 00:19:59.079 a lot of people think that there aren't any fireflies 337 00:19:59.119 --> 00:20:04.440 in the Western States, and that's not true. So happy, 338 00:20:04.559 --> 00:20:08.240 you should be happy. They should be happy because there are. 339 00:20:09.880 --> 00:20:13.759 So there's at least three different kinds of fireflies. There's 340 00:20:13.920 --> 00:20:17.319 the daytime fireflies. They fly during the daytime. The adults 341 00:20:17.319 --> 00:20:19.319 don't light up, even though the larvae do. They're still 342 00:20:19.319 --> 00:20:22.160 in the same firefly family. There's lots of those in 343 00:20:22.160 --> 00:20:28.119 California and in the West. There are also glow worm fireflies, 344 00:20:28.359 --> 00:20:34.400 where the females typically well, the females glow typically they 345 00:20:34.400 --> 00:20:38.400 are worm like, as in, they don't fly. And there's 346 00:20:38.640 --> 00:20:42.160 really really cool glow worm fireflies on the West coast, 347 00:20:42.279 --> 00:20:47.200 including you got to google this, the California pink glow worm. 348 00:20:47.400 --> 00:20:50.759 Oh my god, they're so beautiful. They are really beautiful, 349 00:20:50.799 --> 00:20:53.920 and they're all over California. And I don't know why 350 00:20:53.960 --> 00:20:57.079 people don't recognize those as fireflies. The males don't light up, 351 00:20:57.119 --> 00:20:59.720 but the females do. They glow for hours to attract 352 00:20:59.759 --> 00:21:03.440 these flying on lit mails and they're really really cool. 353 00:21:03.839 --> 00:21:08.240 Okay, hold the phone boy, Howdy hot damn what Okay, 354 00:21:08.319 --> 00:21:13.079 So I'm a lifelong Californian absolute sniveling simp for bugs. 355 00:21:13.240 --> 00:21:15.960 And yet this is the first I'm hearing ever of 356 00:21:16.000 --> 00:21:22.000 the pink glowworm alias the firefly, beetle, microphotos and gustus. Now, 357 00:21:22.119 --> 00:21:25.799 the ladies stay kind of babylike in a larva ish form, 358 00:21:26.119 --> 00:21:29.119 and they just cruise the leaf litter, kind of like 359 00:21:29.279 --> 00:21:33.680 salmon colored segmented tiny hot dogs. And then their soulmates 360 00:21:33.720 --> 00:21:36.880 are dude beetles who fly around, not glowing, but just 361 00:21:36.920 --> 00:21:39.559 looking out for butts. Now, I have spent my life 362 00:21:39.720 --> 00:21:43.480 jealous of New Jersey and ignoring all of these horny, 363 00:21:43.839 --> 00:21:47.799 babylike sparkle butts under my California nose. But as long 364 00:21:47.839 --> 00:21:50.839 as we're getting regional. I covered this ages ago in 365 00:21:50.839 --> 00:21:53.880 a minniesod you probably never heard. But do you call 366 00:21:53.960 --> 00:21:57.880 them you personally? Do you call them fireflies or lightning bugs? 367 00:21:58.000 --> 00:22:01.640 Take a moment, vote aloud while you're layering up a 368 00:22:01.720 --> 00:22:07.759 lasagna or welding something or brushing a chinchilla. Lightning bugs? Okay, 369 00:22:07.880 --> 00:22:11.480 I hope one of you said peeni wallies, because a 370 00:22:11.599 --> 00:22:14.680 University of Cambridge linguistics professor by the name of Bert 371 00:22:14.759 --> 00:22:18.799 Voe also needed to know firefly or lightning bug? So 372 00:22:18.839 --> 00:22:22.599 he asked ten thousand Americans what they call sparkle butts. 373 00:22:22.920 --> 00:22:25.759 Forty percent of you go either way, firefly, lightning bug, 374 00:22:25.799 --> 00:22:30.480 you don't care. Thirty percent of us are exclusively team firefly. Hello, 375 00:22:30.559 --> 00:22:35.759 West Coast High Massachusetts. And about another thirty percent say yeah, no, 376 00:22:36.079 --> 00:22:40.559 it's lightning bug the South. Greetings to you. But to 377 00:22:40.680 --> 00:22:45.319 my delight and probably Professor Voe's the Futtlement, zero point 378 00:22:45.680 --> 00:22:49.000 two percent of those people he polled call these glowing 379 00:22:49.400 --> 00:22:54.599 summer acuties peenie wallies. So that's two people in a 380 00:22:54.640 --> 00:22:59.079 study of ten thousand, and if they are not already friends, oh, 381 00:22:59.079 --> 00:23:01.079 I hope they find each other. I want them to 382 00:23:01.119 --> 00:23:04.480 hold hands and just stare into the summer dusk. So 383 00:23:04.599 --> 00:23:07.640 my point is we need not be a nation divided 384 00:23:08.279 --> 00:23:12.640 on the topic of peenie wallies, especially now because and. 385 00:23:12.880 --> 00:23:15.359 The other exciting news and this is something that we're 386 00:23:15.400 --> 00:23:18.960 really just actually, this is really really recent that we 387 00:23:19.119 --> 00:23:23.880 have begun to realize that there are flashing fireflies in 388 00:23:23.920 --> 00:23:27.200 the Western United States. So there's actually there's a Western 389 00:23:27.240 --> 00:23:30.960 Firefly Project that's run out of the Natural History Museum 390 00:23:31.000 --> 00:23:36.599 of Utah, and they've been mapping flashing fireflies in Utah, 391 00:23:36.880 --> 00:23:43.640 Nevada nearby states. For since twenty fourteen, there's a new 392 00:23:43.759 --> 00:23:47.920 project called the New Mexico Firefly Project. There's flashing fireflies 393 00:23:47.960 --> 00:23:51.319 in New Mexico, in Colorado. I heard a rumor there 394 00:23:51.400 --> 00:23:55.079 might be flashing fireflies in Oregon. So a lot of 395 00:23:55.079 --> 00:23:57.559 this is very very recent and a lot of it 396 00:23:57.599 --> 00:24:01.400 is based on citizen science, like community science observations, just 397 00:24:01.440 --> 00:24:04.759 people going out into the night looking for fireflies in 398 00:24:04.799 --> 00:24:11.119 different places where there are certain characteristics like moisture, like 399 00:24:11.400 --> 00:24:17.319 darkness and food for the firefly larvae. So yeah, it's 400 00:24:17.359 --> 00:24:20.359 really exciting there are Western fireflies. That's a myth that 401 00:24:20.440 --> 00:24:23.000