Think Power Equipment
Think Wana Engine
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by David Lane
Advanced Indiana
Master Naturalist
Honda Tillers
Honda
Mowers
Honda Electric
Start Generators
Wide Cut
Mowers
Wana Engine Center
Shipshewana • 260-768-4165
Archery Season starts September
15th this year! Begin your season
with new equipment from
Straight As An Arrow Archery
Rampage XT
$499.00 Save $100.00
ZXT Package $799.00
Craze Package $369.00
Riot Package $499.00
PSE DNA - $839.00
Drive or Sinister
Package - $599.00
Father’s Day Special
Carbon X-Press Crush Arrows - $89.99/Dozen!
All Crossbows in stock - $20.00 Off!
We have reverse limbs Crossbows in Stock from
Horton & Barnett!
Sign-ups now being accepted for:
• Technohunt League • Hunter’s Education Classes
7070 West 400 South Topeka, IN 46571
260-593-3332 • [email protected]
www.bowguyarchery.com
S
Nature
ummer has officially
blossomed, and just in
time for some lightning,
as storms flow through
our atmosphere. The summer is prime
storm season and brings a very colorful
lightning display just in time for the
4th of July.
Lightning Bugs, also known as
Fireflies, are a winged beetle whose
abdomens glow with a phosphorescent
light; the larvae and wingless females
are called glowworms. They are neither flies nor worms. What makes the
lightning bug remarkable is its bioluminescence, that is, its ability to glow
or display a pulsating light from the
underside of its body. Lightning bugs
are found primarily in humid climates,
where there is vegetation and moisture: near streams, marshes, ditches,
water ways and ponds. There are some
exceptions, but since I live in a humid
area with lots of woods and nearby water, ours is a perfect location for these
flashing bugs.
According to researchers, when
lightning bugs become adults, some
don’t eat at all. Those that do are omnivores and generally feed on pollen or
nectar. It makes sense that their lifespan is typically just a couple of months.
All the larvae are luminescent,
although it’s generally just the adult
insects that we notice flashing their
pale yellowish/green light. Even then,
not all adults are luminescent. Different species have different flash patterns, and the flashes of firefly females
differ from those of males in the same
species. Lightning bug flash patterns
can also vary with time and temperature. Most examples of firefly flashing
are mating signals, but some may serve
as a warning to potential predators,
indicating this food tastes bad! Firefly
blood can be quite toxic to some animals, and in some cases, deadly.
In my research, I was unable to
find an answer for why lightning bugs
exist. What is their role in the ecosystem? My personal theory is that they
are simply nature’s fireworks. For several evenings, we sat in the back yard
and watched these wonderful creatures
fly and flash. As a young kid, my father
and brother would go out in the backyard and catch these lightning bugs,
put them in a jar and put them under
our covers at night. With several lightning bugs captured and placed in those
jars, the pulsating light in a kid’s dark
bedroom is something to behold and a
good memory from my childhood. The
bugs would be released the next morning, and the chase and catch would be
on again that night.
Bioluminescent insects, like
fireflies, are great subjects for behavioral studies, and their bioluminescent
chemistry has been of great value to
humanity in the forms of molecular
and cellular biology and medicine.
Firefly light has even been used in the
study of energy conversion within
cells. Researchers have historically
used fireflies for study, but the simple
joy of watching a fireworks show in
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