What food do fireflies eat What food do fireflies eat

Firefly larvae prey on snails and small insects, and adults eat only some dew or pollen and snails.

Firefly habits:

Fireflies are divided into two categories: terrestrial and aquatic according to their living environment, with the former accounting for the majority. Terrestrial fireflies mostly inhabit places with high shading, lush vegetation and high relative humidity, while aquatic fireflies have higher requirements for the environment, and the water cannot be polluted or polluted by lights.

Firefly larvae are classified into aquatic and terrestrial. The larvae generally need 6 metamorphoses before entering the pupal stage. The larvae eat snails and crustaceans, and after catching prey, they will first anesthetize and inject digestive juices into their bodies to break down the meat.

In the grass, it is common to find terrestrial firefly larvae with two points of light on the tail, and two-color weeping firefly larvae with black and white glow all over the body, and the wings of the growing females of these two species are degraded and not much different from the shape of the larvae, so that the male can fly.

In early spring, water-dwelling firefly larvae climb ashore and burrow into the soil. At this time, the gill breathing is changed to stomatal breathing, the sides of the abdomen will glow, about 50 days to become an adult pupa, an average of only 5 days of life, feeding and growth have become secondary, in the 1 hour after sunset fireflies are very active, to gain time to pursue each other, the male will flash a bright light in twenty seconds, wait for twenty seconds later, send out a signal again, patiently wait for a strong light response from the female, when there is no response, the male will fly elsewhere, and the firefly will begin to glow when it is dark.

Fireflies can pass"Lamp (light of fireflies) language"Come on"Communication", pass each other, communicate information. For the same firefly, male and female can use each other"Light language"Liaise and complete the courtship process. Female fireflies will send out fireflies at very precise intervals to males"Bright, off, on, off, this time interval is very short, and it is difficult for people to distinguish between them, but fireflies can easily and accurately judge the meaning of the other party.

When the male receives the female"Light language"After the signal, the corresponding signal will be sent immediately. So, they use this specific light signal to communicate with each other, and finally fly together and form a mate. It can be seen that the light emitted by fireflies has a special significance for their reproduction.

When fireflies feed, they secrete saliva to paralyze snails, snails or other prey, and then secrete digestive juices to dissolve the meat of the prey and suck the juice for a living. Adults usually only eat dew, but some species eat pollen and nectar; A few species will prey on other small insects.

Terrestrial eats snails, and aquatic eats snails. Adults don't eat.

Damp places, or those little snails that come out on a rainy day...

If you raise it, just use some minced meat.

Firefly larvae eat meat, and fireflies hardly eat or drink when they become adults.

Fireflies eat different foods at different growth stages, firefly larvae eat meat, and most of the larvae of terrestrial fireflies eat some smaller snails. Most of the aquatic firefly larvae eat snails in the water, and sometimes they also eat small fish and tadpoles.

After the fireflies become adults, their lifespan is very short, and many fireflies hardly eat or drink, and only eat dew, honeydew or pollen, and nectar. However, in South America, there are a few species of adult fireflies that glow to feed on other species of fireflies, or small phototaxis insects.

How to raise fireflies

1. Prepare a transparent glass bottle, preferably wide and wide-mouthed, and clean it.

2. The next thing is, of course, to catch fireflies, although fireflies can fly, they usually lie on the leaves and do not move, which is easy to catch.

3. After catching fireflies, remember to seal the bottle mouth with a fine net or gauze in time, pick some fresh grass and flowers and put them in glass bottles, firefly adults have a very short lifespan, and only eat some dew, juice, pollen, etc., so there is no need to worry too much about what to feed them.

4. In the process of feeding, it is necessary to sprinkle some water appropriately. for them to sustain life. Dewy words are the best.

5. If you use a glass cover, remember to ventilate every once in a while.

Fireflies eat meat during their larval stage, and snails, slugs, snails, earthworms, etc., are their food.

After metamorphosing into adults, fireflies hardly eat or drink, only eat some dew and nectar, and finally starve themselves to death, and only a few adult fireflies will prey on small insects or other types of fireflies.

Larvae:

Fireflies eat meat during their larval stage, and snails, slugs, snails, earthworms, etc., are their food. Studies have found that the gastropod of a snail secretes a type of mucus that leaves a trail whenever it crawls over a place, while terrestrial firefly larvae can spot snails using their sense of smell. After eating, some fireflies have to stick their tail feet to clean their bodies.

Firefly larvae can survive for a few days or even 1 month without feeding once when they feed once. Aquatic firefly larvae need to complete the hunting process in the water, and then drag the prey to the shore to eat slowly.

Adults:

Fireflies hardly eat or drink, only eat some dew, nectar, and finally starve themselves to death, only a few firefly adults will prey on small insects or other species of fireflies, and female adults of the genus Photuris can also prey, they mainly catch male adults of fireflies of other genera or other species of fireflies, it is the only genus found that adults have predatory habits.

Luminescence principle:

The glow of fireflies is a type of bioluminescence. The principle of luminescence of fireflies is: fireflies have specialized light-emitting cells, and there are two types of chemicals in the light-emitting cells, one is called luciferin (called firefly luciferin in fireflies), and the other is called luciferase.

Luciferin can consume ATP under the catalysis of luciferase and react with oxygen, which produces an excited state of oxidized luciferin, which releases photons when oxidized luciferin returns from the excited state to the ground state.