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Biology of Synchronous Flashing of Fireflies

Nature volume 211, pages 562–564 (1966)Cite this article

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References

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  3. We thank the American Philosophical Society and National Geographic Society for travel grants, and Professor Kloom Vajropala and Dr. Boonsong Lekagul for help in Thailand during 1965, October 11–20.

  4. We thank Messrs. John Dunsmore, John Turner, R. B. Jagat and Peter Ashton for innumerable favours and extensive assistance in Sarawak during September 25–October 1, 1965.

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  20. Wynne-Edwards, V. C., in Animal Dispersion in Relation to Social Behaviour (1962) has discussed firefly synchronism as a type of conventionalized “epideictic” display or social aggregation aimed basically at population regulation rather than maximizing mating opportunity. If so, the firefly example would be unusual in being apparently a more or less steady-state affair rather than being confined to a breeding season. However, much more study of possible size limitation and spacing of swarms will be required before this interesting suggestion can be assessed.

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  21. We thank Lord Medway for enabling us to collect at the Gombak Field Station of the University of Malaya, and Dr. John Bullock for arranging our stay at Fraser's Hill (Selangor).

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  23. We thank the late Mr. F. A. McDermott for identifying our fireflies.

  24. A species of Colophotia has been reported to be “the” synchronizing firefly of Thailand ( Reinking, O. A., Science, 53, 485; 1921) and we have also seen a large sample of Luciola brahmina, said to have been collected in the spring along the Chao Phraya River, and also supposed to have been flashing synchronously. Observational errors may well be involved in both reports, but the possibility of more than one synchronizing firefly species in the same area raises some very interesting questions and cautions against generalizations from limited geographical and seasonal experience.

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  1. Laboratory of Physical Biology, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland

    JOHN BUCK & ELISABETH BUCK

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  1. JOHN BUCK
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BUCK, J., BUCK, E. Biology of Synchronous Flashing of Fireflies. Nature 211, 562–564 (1966). https://doi.org/10.1038/211562a0

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