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Index of Subjects --Apple-Mail-48-876684517 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Bernard, On 30-Jul-11, at 12:47 PM, Bernard Burke wrote: > Here are a couple of firefly photos I took in Cape Breton last > weekend. There appeared to be a decent number of them, but I seem to > recall them being more plentiful in the same location in my younger > years. It may have been discussed in the past with this group, but > I'm curious as to whether there are more than one variety in Nova > Scotia. > > http://bernieb.smugmug.com/Nature/insectsspiders-etc/797514_MpFcT#1407605332_kgk87ZX-X2-LB > > http://bernieb.smugmug.com/Nature/insectsspiders-etc/797514_MpFcT#1407605766_hkTSvb8-X2-LB As it so happens, I've just completed a paper on the fireflies (family Lampyridae) of Atlantic Canada. It's not yet been published, but I hope will be out in the fall. I'll notify folks when it is available. There are 12 species (not varieties, which means something different in the biological world) of Lampyridae found in the region, 11 of which are present in Nova Scotia. These fall into three groups: 1. "dark" fireflies: these are species which as adults are not bioluminescent (although their larvae are). It includes four species in the genera Ellychnia, Lucidota, and Pyropyga; 2. "fireflies": these are beetles whose adults emit neurologically precise flashing patterns while in flight (in other words what people people conventionally term "fireflies). There are seven species in the region in the genera Pyractomena, Photinus, and Photuris. 3. "glowworms": these are species which are weakly-bioluminescent and do not emit neurologically precise flashing patterns, but simply "glow". There is one introduced European species, Phosphaenus hemipterus (Goeze) (the lesser glowworm) found in Halifax and Yarmouth (and elsewhere in North America only in Montreal, and Fergus, Ontario). In 2009 I published a paper on this species in North America together with my student Scott McIvor: http://www.pensoft.net/journals/zookeys/article/279/the-european-lesser-glow-worm-phosphaenus-hemipterus-goeze-in-north-america-coleoptera-lampyridae- It's an interesting read about a very unusual beetle, with lots of colour photos from Halifax! :-> In any event, the species pictured in your photos is Photuris fairchildi Barber and it comes with an interesting story and Nova Scotia connection. It was described by Herbert Spencer Barber in 1951 on the basis of a series of ten specimens collected by Graham Fairchild (and named in his honour), an American entomologist and grandson of Alexander Graham Bell, on 14 July 1927 in Beinn Bhreagh (the Bell family estate) in Baddeck on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia. Until recently Photuris fairchildi was only known from Nova Scotia, however, my paper will establish that it is found throughout the Maritime Provinces, and is the only species of Photuris in the region. Photuris fireflies are an ultra-fascinating and complex group with a large repertoire of situation-specific flashing patterns which allow them to locate potential mates and communicate things such as "caught in spider web", "walking through grass", "grasped by wolf spider", etc. Females are voracious predators of the males of other bioluminescent fireflies which they lure to their fate by mimicking the response signals of females of other species of fireflies. They are also taxonomically extremely complex; 22 species have been described in North America and a further ~28 species that await description. Some species cannot be differentiated except through their flashing patterns. Bernard: can you tell me the date and location where you photographed this specimen? Thanks! All the best! Chris Christopher Majka <c.majka@ns.sympatico.ca> | Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada * Research Associate: Nova Scotia Museum | http://museum.gov.ns.ca/mnh/research-asfr.htm * Review Editor: The Coleopterists Bulletin | http://www.coleopsoc.org/ * Subject Editor: ZooKeys | http://pensoftonline.net/zookeys/index.php/journal/index * Review Editor: Zootaxa | http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/taxa/Coleoptera.html * Associate Editor: Journal of the Acadian Entomological Society | http://www.acadianes.org/journal.html * Editor: Atlantic Canada Coleoptera | http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Environment/NHR/PDF/index.html * Editor: Bugguide, Coleoptera http://bugguide.net Whenever I hear of the capture of rare beetles, I feel like an old war- horse at the sound of a trumpet. - Charles Darwin --Apple-Mail-48-876684517 Content-Type: text/html; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <html><body style=3D"word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; = -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Hi = Bernard,<div><br><div><div>On 30-Jul-11, at 12:47 PM, Bernard Burke = wrote:</div><br class=3D"Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote = type=3D"cite"><div> Here are a couple of firefly photos I took in = Cape Breton last weekend. There appeared to be a decent number of them, = but I seem to recall them being more plentiful in the same location in = my younger years. It may have been discussed in the past with this = group, but I'm curious as to whether there are more than one variety in = Nova Scotia.</div><div> </div><div><a = href=3D"http://bernieb.smugmug.com/Nature/insectsspiders-etc/797514_MpFcT#= 1407605332_kgk87ZX-X2-LB" = target=3D"1">http://bernieb.smugmug.com/Nature/insectsspiders-etc/797514_M= pFcT#1407605332_kgk87ZX-X2-LB</a></div><div> </div><div><a = href=3D"http://bernieb.smugmug.com/Nature/insectsspiders-etc/797514_MpFcT#= 1407605766_hkTSvb8-X2-LB" = target=3D"1">http://bernieb.smugmug.com/Nature/insectsspiders-etc/797514_M= pFcT#1407605766_hkTSvb8-X2-LB</a></div></blockquote><br></div><div>As it = so happens, I've just completed a paper on the fireflies (family = Lampyridae) of Atlantic Canada. It's not yet been published, but I hope = will be out in the fall. I'll notify folks when it is = available.</div><div><br></div><div>There are 12 species (not varieties, = which means something different in the biological world) of Lampyridae = found in the region, 11 of which are present in Nova Scotia. These fall = into three groups:</div><div><br></div><div>1. "dark" fireflies: these = are species which as adults are not bioluminescent (although their = larvae are). It includes four species in the genera<i> Ellychnia, = Lucidota</i>, and <i>Pyropyga</i>;</div><div><br></div><div>2. = "fir