Boston Flora

Tag: firefly

  • Tuesday, January 11, 7:30 pm – Seminal Influences: The Role of Male Ejaculates in Firefly Evolution

    Sometimes you just can’t make this stuff up.  We recently highlighted the Museum of Science’s Firefly Project, and now we receive notification that the Cambridge Entomological Club will hold its next meeting on Tuesday, January 11 at 7:30 pm in Room 101 of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Oxford Street, Cambridge.  Adam South will speak on “Seminal Influences: The Role of Male Ejaculates in Firefly Evolution.” Adam is a PhD candidate from Tufts University, and we’d love to see his Facebook profile.

    Have you ever wondered what is behind the flashing lights of fireflies? Adam South will discuss his fascinating research exploring firefly mating, sexual selection and nuptial gifts. Male fireflies produce and transfer to the female a proteinacous, spirally coiled spermatophore each time they mate. These types of seminal nuptial gifts have been shown to be intimately connected with pre and post copulatory sexual selection in a diverse array of taxa. This presentation will examine spermatophore production from a phylogenetic perspective, including how it is linked to sex specific patterns of evolution and its role in firefly sexual selection.

    The meeting is free and open to the public. Snacks will be provided and you are also welcome to join Club members at 6:15 PM for an informal pre-meeting dinner at Harkness Commons, in the law school cafeteria on the second floor. For more information you may contact David Lubertazzi at lubertazzi@gmail.com.  Photo below by Baird Woods.

  • Firefly Watch

    Spotting fireflies is a special part of any warm summer night, because we so rarely see them. Are fireflies disappearing from our landscape? If so, why? What can we do about it?

    The Museum of Science has linked with the Citizen Science website, co-sponsored by the Museum of Science, Tufts University, and Fitchburg State College, helping researchers determine why fireflies seem to be declining, and offering the general public an opportunity to learn how to collect scientific data in a manner that is both useful to firefly researchers and fun for the whole family.

    Using your own backyard as a data collection site, chart the occurrence of fireflies from May to August. Each week, you can upload your observations to the website, joining the data from hundreds of other citizen scientists to track the status of fireflies in your area.

    Becoming a citizen scientist is easy and fun, and your collective data is essential to helping scientists learn why firefly numbers are declining, as well as what can be done to reverse the trend. Whether you participate as an individual or family, it is a great way to foster a lifelong interest in science and a greater understanding of natural history. To learn more about the project, and to register, log on to www.mos.org/fireflywatch.