| Fireflies | ||||||||||
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Curtos
Cyphonocerus Drilaster Ellychnia Hotaria Lampyris Lucidina Luciola - (Japanese fireflies) Photinus - (common eastern firefly) Photuris Pristolycus Pyractomena Pyrocoelia Stenocladius | ||||||||||
Fireflies (family Lampyridae) are nocturnal, luminous beetles. They use special light-emitting organs to communicate, primarily as part of mating. The light-emitting chemical, luciferase, is of scientific interest, and genes for producing it have been spliced into bacteria.
There are more than 2000 species of firefly, found in temperate and tropical environments around the world.
External link
References
TSN: 113836
" class="external">http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi