English

Fireflies in the woods near Nuremberg

A firefly

Wikispecies

Noun

firefly ‎(plural fireflies)

1. Any beetle of the family Lampyridae, which exhibit bioluminescence during twilight.
   • 2000, Exploring Life Science, 2: Bats—Cave Life, Marshall Cavendish, page 96,

     Fireflies are the best-known insects that produce light. […] Many fireflies use their light to communicate, particularly at mating time when males and females have to get together.

   • 2004, B. V. David, T. N. Ananthakrishnan, Chapter 20: Bioluminescence, General and Applied Entomology, Tata McGraw-Hill, 2nd Edition, page 130,

     The luciferins are different in different species and today both the luciferin and luciferase in the firefly are available in the crystalline form.

   • 2007, Lars Olof Björn, Helen Ghiradella, 23: Bioluminescence, Lars Olof Björn (editor), Photobiology: The Science of Life and Light, Springer, 2nd Edition, page 607,

     Various other luciferase genes, especially the firefly luciferase gene, are also used for the study of gene regulation. […] The classic use of bioluminescence, however, is the use of a luciferin-luciferase mixture from fireflies as an assay for ATP.

Synonyms

• (beetle): lightning bug

Translations

See also

• glowworm