CATDOLL : CATDOLL: The current status and future research methods of firefly breeding (The current status and future research methods of firefly breeding)

1. What is the full text of Fabre’s “The Fireflies”?

In our area, there are few insects as well-known and familiar to everyone as the firefly. This strange little creature hangs a lantern on its buttocks to express its joy of life. Who has not seen it wandering in the grass on a hot summer night like a spark from the full moon? Even if you have not seen it, you have at least heard of its name.

Now let's ask what fireflies eat.

A master of gastronomy once said, "Tell me what you eat, and I'll tell you what you are." We can first ask the same question of any insect whose habits we want to study, because in the largest or the smallest animal, the stomach is everything; the availability of food governs everything in life. Now, although the firefly looks weak and harmless, it is actually a carnivore, a hunter of game, and its means of doing this are rare and vicious. Its prey is usually snails. This has long been known to entomologists, but I feel from my reading that people don't know enough about it, especially its strange method of attack, which I have never seen anywhere else. If you look at it, you will find that it is not well understood, or even understood at all.

Before eating their prey, fireflies first inject an anesthetic into it, rendering it unconscious, just like the wonderful surgery of humans, where patients are anesthetized before surgery so that they do not feel pain. Fireflies' prey is usually small snails that are barely the size of a cherry. In summer, these snails gather in groups on the dry stalks of rice or wheat or other long dry stems of plants. They stay there motionless and deep in thought throughout the hot summer. It was in this situation that I have seen fireflies use their surgical skills many times to immobilize their prey on the trembling stems and then have a delicious meal.

It also knows other places where food is stored. It often goes to the edge of the irrigation ditch, where the soil is damp and overgrown with weeds, which is a paradise for snails. At this time, the firefly performs surgery on the snail on the ground. I can easily raise fireflies at home to carefully observe the details of this surgeon's operation. Now I want to let the readers see this strange scene.

I put some grass, a few fireflies and some snails in a large glass bottle. The snails are the right size, not too big, not too small. Please be patient and especially keep an eye on them, because the things we want to see will happen suddenly and in a short time.

Finally we saw it. The firefly briefly surveyed its prey. Usually, the snail is completely hidden in its shell, except for a little bit of soft flesh on its mantle. Then the greedy one opened its tool, which was very simple, but could only be seen with the help of a magnifying glass. It was two jaws that had been turned into hooks, very sharp, but as thin as a hair. Under the microscope, one could see that there was a thin groove on the hook. This was its tool.

The firefly uses its tool to repeatedly and gently tap the snail's outer membrane. This is done gently, as if it were a harmless kiss rather than a sting. When children playfully pinch each other's skin with two fingers, we used to call this action "twisting" because it is just a little bit like tickling, not twisting. Now we will use the word "twisting". It is okay to use children's language when talking to insects. It is a good way to make simple minds understand each other. So we say that the firefly twists the snail.

It twists just right. It twists methodically, without hurrying, and after each twist it rests a little, as if it wants to test the effect of its twisting. It does not twist often, and no more than six twists are enough to subdue the prey and make it immobile. It is very likely that the hook is also used to peck at the snail meat, but I cannot say for sure because I did not see it later. But only the first few twists are enough to make the snail lifeless and unconscious, and the firefly's method is so quick, almost like lightning, that there is no doubt that the poison has been transmitted to the snail by means of the grooved hook. These stings are so gentle on the surface, but they produce a rapid effect. Now let's test it.

After the firefly twisted the snail four or five times, I pulled the snail out of the firefly's mouth and used a fine needle to prick the front of the snail, that is, the part of the snail's body that was exposed from the shell; the pierced flesh did not tremble at all, and it had no reaction to the needle prick at all, it was like a completely lifeless corpse.

There are even more convincing examples. Sometimes I am lucky enough to see some snails crawling, with their legs wriggling and fully extended, when they are attacked by fireflies. The snail moves a few times to show its uneasiness, and then everything stops. The legs stop crawling, the front of the body loses the graceful curvature like a swan's neck, and the antennae hang down limply, bent like a broken cane. This posture is maintained.

Was the snail really dead? Not at all; I could revive an apparently dead snail. After two or three days of this half-dead state, I isolated the "patient" and gave it a bath. Although this was not absolutely necessary for the success of the experiment, two days later, my snail, which had been injured by the insidious fireflies, was back to normal. It was revived, so to speak; it could move and feel again. If it was stimulated with a needle, it felt; it squirmed, crawled, and extended its tentacles, as if nothing unpleasant had happened. The drowsiness of the whole body, like being drunk, completely disappeared, and it was back to life. What is this state of temporary inability to move and not feeling pain called? I think there is only one appropriate name, that is, anesthesia.

Many carnivorous hymenoptera eat their prey when it is still alive but immobile. Through their exploits we have learned the marvelous technique of insects in paralyzing their prey by numbing its nerve centers with their own venom. In ancient times, fireflies and other insects apparently knew this technique before human scientific practice had even discovered one of the most amazing techniques of modern surgery. The insects knew it much earlier than we do, but in different ways. Surgeons let their patients sniff ether or chloroform, and insects inject a very small amount of a special poison through the hooks of their jaws. Will humans one day make use of this knowledge? What wonderful discoveries we could make in the future if we better understood the secrets of the little insects!

Now let's get back to fireflies.

If the snail is crawling on the ground, or even retreating into its shell, it is not difficult to attack it. The snail's shell has no cover, and most of the front part of the body is exposed. In this case, the snail cannot defend itself and is easily injured. But it is also often the case that the snail stays in a high place, clinging to a dry pole or a smooth stone. This support becomes a temporary cover for its shell, which prevents any malicious person who wants to disturb the inhabitants of the shell from entering; but there is one condition, that is, there are no cracks in the wall anywhere. But it is often the case that the snail's shell is not close to its support, and as a result, the cover is not closed. In this case, even if the exposed area is only a little large, the firefly can use its delicate tools to gently sting the snail, so that it will immediately fall asleep and motionless, and the firefly can have a good meal in peace and quiet.

Fireflies are very careful when eating snails. The attacker must handle its victim gently and not cause it to struggle. If the snail struggles or moves, it will fall from the high stem. Once it falls to the ground, the food is gone, because fireflies do not actively and enthusiastically look for their prey. They just take advantage of what they get by luck without working hard to find it. So when attacking, for the sake of safety, it must make the snail feel no pain and not cause the snail to have a muscle reaction, so as not to fall from a high place. It can be seen that sudden deep anesthesia is a good way for fireflies to achieve their goals.

How does a firefly eat its prey? Does it literally eat? That is, does it cut the snail into small pieces, slice it into thin slices, and then chew it? I think not. I have never seen any trace of solid food in the mouths of my caged creatures. The firefly does not really "eat", it drinks. It takes the method of maggots, turning its prey into a thin meat gruel to satisfy its hunger. It turns its prey into a liquid before eating it, just like the flesh-eating larvae of flies. The whole process is this: no matter how big the snail is, it is almost always anesthetized by a firefly. Soon, the guests come in twos and threes and feast with the real owner without any quarrel. After letting them feast for two days, I turned the snail shell upside down, and the contents inside were like a pot turned upside down and the meat gruel flowed out of the pot. The guests walked away with their stomachs full. Only this little residue was left.

The matter is obvious: just like the "twist" we mentioned earlier, after repeated gentle stings, each guest is processed with a special digestive agent, and the snail meat becomes meat porridge. The fireflies eat each other and everyone enjoys it. It can be seen that the two curved hooks in the firefly's mouth are not only used to sting the snail and inject anesthetic poison, but also undoubtedly inject liquid that can turn the snail meat into a liquid. These two small tools that can only be seen with a magnifying glass should have another function. They are concave, just like the curved hooks on the mouth of the ant fly, used to suck and eat the captured food without cutting the prey into pieces. However, there is a huge difference between the two, that is, the ant fly leaves a lot of leftovers and throws them outside the funnel-shaped trap dug in the sand, while the firefly, an expert in liquefaction, eats nothing, or almost nothing. The tools used by the two are similar, but one only sucks the blood of the prey, while the other relies on liquefaction in advance and then eats the prey completely.

Sometimes the snail's balance is very precarious, but the firefly's work is very delicate. My glass bottles provide me with many examples of this. The snail often crawls to the top of the bottle covered with a piece of glass and sticks itself to the glass with a little mucus. Because there is not much mucus, the slightest movement will cause the shell to fall off the glass to the bottom of the bottle.

However, fireflies often use their climbing organs to supplement their leg strength to climb to high places and choose their prey. They observe carefully, find a gap, and then bite it gently, making the prey unconscious. Then they immediately prepare meat porridge as food for several days.

After the firefly finished its meal and walked away, its shell was completely empty, but the shell, which was only attached to the glass with a little bit of mucus, did not fall off or even move in position. The snail did not resist at all and was gradually turned into porridge, being sucked dry at the place where it received the first blow. This detail tells us how sudden the anesthetic sting is and how cleverly the firefly eats the snail, without letting the snail fall off the very smooth and vertical glass, and even without shaking on the very fragile adhesion line.

2. Detailed method of feeding fireflies?

Use a transparent plastic box, make sure to leave ventilation holes, and preferably cover it with wire mesh. This kind of insects will not fight or bite each other, so multiple insects can be raised together.

You can put some young locust leaves or freshly picked grass in the bottle and cover the mouth of the bottle with plastic yarn, iron yarn or gauze.

The humidity in the bottle should be maintained at a certain level. You can sprinkle a little water every day and spray some water before supplying the tender grass or locust leaves.

Fireflies love to eat the body fluids of snails. Every 2 to 3 days, you can catch 1 to 2 live snails and put them in a feeding container for them to eat.

If it is a glass bottle or a transparent plastic box feeder, you can observe it eating snails at this time.

If you keep 10 to 25 fireflies in a bottle, you only need to provide 1 snail each time. If you keep more than 25 fireflies, you can put 2 snails each time. Fireflies can generally be kept for 15 to 20 days, and if they are well kept, they can live for 1 month.

3. Can fireflies be kept as pets?

This concept is the same as home-style breeding, but if the site allows, it is best to arrange it as close to the natural environment as possible. The breeding method for terrestrial species is the same as above, but they should be covered with a fine net to prevent escape; a vegetable garden can be planted to raise snails for the larvae to prey on. For aquatic species, an artificial river can be built to allow the water to circulate. It is best to have an artificial waterfall to increase the amount of oxygen dissolved naturally, but it should be noted that firefly larvae need an environment with slow water flow. Then raise carp and other fish in the river, and use the feces discharged by the carp to reproduce algae. These algae can provide food for snails; and firefly larvae can prey on these snails. Note that the slope of the river should be soil for mature larvae to pupate. If there is a larger breeding space, you can also consider designing an aquatic and terrestrial environment. Firefly larvae are carnivorous. Most terrestrial firefly larvae eat smaller snails. Of course, there are some exceptions, such as the two-color hanging whiskers firefly that only eats earthworms and not snails. Most aquatic firefly larvae eat snails in the water. Sometimes they also eat small fish and tadpoles. After the pupae transform into adults, most fireflies do not eat or drink, and often only eat dew, honeydew or pollen and nectar. In South America, a few species of fireflies can glow and prey on other types of fireflies or small light-attracting insects as food.

4. What are the conditions for artificially breeding fireflies?

The feeding device can be a wire cage or a glass bottle, but be sure to leave ventilation holes. You can also use a transparent plastic box, but also be sure to leave ventilation holes. It is best to use iron gauze as a cover. This kind of insect will not fight or bite each other, so multiple insects can be raised together. You can put some young locust leaves or freshly picked grass in the bottle, and cover the bottle mouth with plastic gauze, iron gauze or gauze. It is advisable to maintain a certain humidity in the bottle. You can sprinkle a little water every day, and spray some water before feeding the young grass or locust leaves.

After fireflies transform into adults, most species of fireflies hardly eat or drink, and often only eat dew, honeydew or pollen and nectar. In South America, a few species of firefly adults will glow and prey on other types of fireflies or small phototactic insects as food.

Additional information:

Firefly habits:

1. Fireflies love to eat the body fluids of snails. You can catch 1-2 live snails every 2-3 days and put them in the feeder for them to eat. If the feeder is a glass bottle or a transparent plastic box, you can observe them eating snails.

2. If you raise 10 to 25 fireflies in a bottle, you only need to provide 1 snail each time. If you raise more than 25 fireflies, you can put 2 snails each time. Fireflies can generally be raised for 15 to 20 days, and if they are well raised, they can live for 1 month.

3. Firefly larvae are terrestrial species, so they should be covered with fine nets to prevent them from escaping; a vegetable garden can be planted to raise snails for the larvae to prey on. For aquatic species, artificial rivers can be built to allow the water to circulate, and it would be best if there were artificial waterfalls to increase the amount of oxygen dissolved naturally.

5. Can fireflies be bred artificially?

Cover them with glass, and then cover them with plants. It is best to have dense leaves. Spray some water every day. Raise snails inside. The size of the snails is determined by the number of fireflies. The lifespan of adult fireflies is generally only about 5 days.

Additional information

Habitat

Insects in this family like to live near water or in humid environments and are usually active at night.

Living habits

It is carnivorous and preys on mollusks such as snails and slugs and annelids such as earthworms. After obtaining the prey, it uses its upper jaw to inject secretions into the prey for external digestion and then absorbs them into the body. Usually a snail will share with many fireflies. The eggs, larvae, pupae and adults can all glow, and the glow of the adults can attract the opposite sex.

Appearance characteristics

The insects of this family are small to medium in size, long and flat, with soft body walls and elytra. They have small heads, well-developed pronotum, and cover their heads. The eyes are semispherical, and the eyes of males are usually larger than those of females. There is a pair of antennae in front of the forehead, between the two eyes, which are close to each other, with 11 segments, serrated, and the males are pecten-shaped or fan-shaped. The upper jaw is curved and has grooves running through it.

Males usually have elytra that cover the abdomen and hind wings. Females are usually wingless, but both sexes of the genus Lucanthus have wings. The elytra are densely covered with fine short hairs, and the elytra are wide at the base. The base of the forelegs is conical and has subsegments.

The coxae of the middle legs are cylindrical, with the two coxae close to each other; the coxae of the hind legs are transversely broad. The legs are slender, without special swellings, and have 5 tarsal segments. The abdomen has 7 to 8 segments, and the 6th and 7th segments have light organs that can emit yellow-green light.

Relationship with humans

The importance of insects to humans is immeasurable. Some of the products produced by insects, such as honey, silk, and wax, are food and industrial raw materials for humans; insects are pollinators for 2/3 of flowering plants; and some insects can decompose large amounts of waste and return them to the soil to complete the material cycle.

Some insects play an important role in maintaining the balance between certain plants and animals. On the other hand, insects are, in a sense, the main competitors of human survival, destroying human food and agricultural products (both before and after harvest) in large quantities.

Every year, at least 20-30% of agricultural products in the world are eaten by insects. They damage buildings, spread a variety of human and animal diseases, and cause death of humans and animals. In short, insects have a very close relationship with human interests.

The relationship between insects and humans is very complex, and one of the main factors that makes this complex is the extremely wide range of insect diets. According to previous estimates, 48.2% of insects are herbivorous, and 28% are predators, preying on other insects and small animals.

2.4% are parasitic, living outside or inside other insects and animals; and 17.3% feed on decaying organisms and animal excrement. This roughly outlines the benefits and harms of insects. But this is just a natural phenomenon, and people's views on benefits and harms are based on their economic interests, so they are much more complicated.

6. How to raise fireflies?

1. The feeder can be made of wire cage or glass bottle, but be sure to leave ventilation holes. You can also use transparent plastic box, but also be sure to leave ventilation holes. It is best to use iron gauze as a cover. 2. Fireflies will not fight or bite each other, so multiple insects can be raised together. You can put some tender locust leaves or newly picked tender grass in the bottle, and cover the bottle mouth with plastic gauze, iron gauze or gauze. The bottle should maintain a certain humidity. You can sprinkle a little water every day, and spray some water before providing tender grass or locust leaves before putting them in. 3. Fireflies love to eat snail body fluids. Every 2 to 3 days, you can catch 1 to 2 live snails and put them in the feeder for them to eat. If it is a glass bottle or a transparent plastic box feeder, you can observe it eating snails at this time. 4. If you raise 10 to 25 fireflies in the bottle, you only need to provide 1 snail each time. If you raise more than 25 fireflies, you can put 2 snails each time. Fireflies can generally be kept for 15 to 20 days, and if they are well cared for, they can live for up to 1 month.