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Spontaneous flash communication of females in an Asian firefly

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Abstract

Fireflies are well known for the use of bioluminescence for sexual communication. In species using flash signals for pair formation, species and sexual identity are conferred by flash timing parameters such as flash duration, flash interval, flash number, and response delay. In dialog fireflies in North America, the male is the advertiser and the female is the responder. In these species, the male flash signal parameter varies depending on species, but the female flash signal parameter is limited only to response delay. However, in fireflies other than dialog fireflies, sexual flash communication is not well studied. Although many female-advertisement-like fireflies are reported, we have no confirmed case of sexual communication in a female-advertisement species. Here, we report the sexual flash communication of an Asian firefly, Luciola (Hotaria) parvula, in which the female flashes spontaneously. By using an electronic firefly, we confirm experimentally that males are specifically attracted to flashes with a female-specific flash duration. This is the first experimental report of sexual communication of a female advertiser in firefly communication. In this species, females call males usually with spontaneous flashes unlike dialog fireflies.

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Acknowledgment

This work was supported by grants-in-aid from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan to J.Y., M.N. and K.T.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Aichi Fireflies Society, 126-1 Shimokaneiba, Osaki-cho, Toyokawa, Aichi, 442-0007, Japan

    Hideo Takatsu

  2. Department of Systems Engineering, Shizuoka University, 3-5-1 Johoku, Naka-ku, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, 432-8561, Japan

    Kei-ichi Tainaka & Jin Yoshimura

  3. Department of Mathematics, Keio University, 4-1-1 Hiyoshi, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 223-8521, Japan

    Mihoko Minami

Authors
  1. Hideo Takatsu
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  2. Mihoko Minami
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  3. Kei-ichi Tainaka
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  4. Jin Yoshimura
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jin Yoshimura.

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Takatsu, H., Minami, M., Tainaka, Ki. et al. Spontaneous flash communication of females in an Asian firefly. J Ethol 30, 355–360 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10164-012-0332-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10164-012-0332-2

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