{"id":116578,"date":"2024-10-21T05:22:47","date_gmt":"2024-10-20T22:22:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=116578"},"modified":"2024-10-21T05:22:47","modified_gmt":"2024-10-20T22:22:47","slug":"stunning-fossil-reveals-fireflies-glowed-when-dinosaurs-ruled-earth-sciencealert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=116578","title":{"rendered":"Stunning Fossil Reveals Fireflies Glowed When Dinosaurs Ruled Earth : ScienceAlert"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>One of the most beautiful sights in the summer twilight is the gentle glow of fireflies lighting up the crepuscular gloom.<\/p>\n<p>These twinkling insects are the most abundant bioluminescent beetles, with roughly 2,500 species known around the world. Their glowing abdomens serve multiple purposes \u2013 but what we don&#8217;t really have a good handle on is how this trait evolved.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"letter-spacing: -0.45px;\">According to a team led by paleontologist Chenyang Cai of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a<\/span> firefly magnificently preserved for eons in golden amber may have some answers.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"letter-spacing: -0.025em;\">Some 99 million years ago, <\/span><i style=\"letter-spacing: -0.025em;\">Flammarionella hehaikuni<\/i><span style=\"letter-spacing: -0.025em;\"> was already lighting up the dusk, suggesting its ancestors had well-and-truly evolved their characteristic glowing butt by the Mesozoic.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_137833\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-137833\" style=\"width: 642px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/09\/amber-firefly-closeup.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"642\" height=\"1496\" class=\"size-full wp-image-137833\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/09\/amber-firefly-closeup.jpg 642w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/09\/amber-firefly-closeup-178x415.jpg 178w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/09\/amber-firefly-closeup-600x1398.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 642px) 100vw, 642px\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-137833\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Flammarionella hehaikuni<\/em>. (Cai et al., <a href=\"https:\/\/royalsocietypublishing.org\/doi\/10.1098\/rspb.2024.1671\"><em>Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci<\/em><\/a>, 2024)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>It&#8217;s the second such Mesozoic firefly found preserved in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/the-wondrous-beauty-of-myanmar-amber-hides-a-very-dark-secret\">Myanmar amber<\/a>. The first, <i>Protoluciola albertalleni<\/i>, also had a beautifully preserved firefly lantern. And a bioluminescent beetle <a href=\"https:\/\/royalsocietypublishing.org\/doi\/10.1098\/rspb.2020.2730\">from a different family<\/a> was also found in the same amber deposit.<\/p>\n<p>What makes the new discovery so exciting is that the trapped specimen&#8217;s lantern is different from the lanterns seen in its amber-trapped contemporaries, showing that by 99 million years ago, insect bioluminescence was already well developed and diverse.<\/p>\n<p>Bioluminescence in fireflies seems to serve two main functions \u2013 attracting other fireflies for courtship, and warning predators about any <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Lucibufagin\">lucibufagin<\/a> toxins they may be loaded with. Scientists have recently argued, however, that bioluminescence emerged in fireflies <a href=\"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/pnasnexus\/article\/3\/6\/pgae215\/7695494\">before lucibufagins did<\/a>, which raises some questions about the early benefits of insect bioluminescence.<\/p>\n<p>Cai and his colleagues found their firefly in amber in Kachin State in northern Myanmar, the same region from which the other Mesozoic light-up insects hailed.<\/p>\n<p>The amber itself is remarkably clear, revealing the insect in exquisite detail. Based on its physical characteristics, the researchers were able to identify the specimen as a female belonging to <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Luciolinae\">Luciolinae<\/a> \u2013 one of the largest subfamilies of fireflies, whose members possess flashing lanterns in their abdomens.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_137834\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-137834\" style=\"width: 642px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/09\/amber-firefly-antenna.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"642\" height=\"515\" class=\"size-full wp-image-137834\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/09\/amber-firefly-antenna.jpg 642w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/09\/amber-firefly-antenna-517x415.jpg 517w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/09\/amber-firefly-antenna-600x481.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 642px) 100vw, 642px\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-137834\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Details of the antenna of <em>Flammarionella hehaikuni<\/em>. The arrows point to the indentations. (Cai et al., <a href=\"https:\/\/royalsocietypublishing.org\/doi\/10.1098\/rspb.2024.1671\"><em>Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci<\/em><\/a>, 2024)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>But there are some differences. The antennae of <em>Flammarionella<\/em> (named for French astronomer <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Camille_Flammarion\">Camille Flammarion<\/a>) are densely covered in hair-like appendages called setae, with deep, oval-shaped indentations on many of its segments.<\/p>\n<p>Although we&#8217;ve never seen this characteristic in living fireflies, similar features can be found in other bugs. Related to the insect&#8217;s sense of smell, the indentations maximize surface area and aid recognition of sex pheromones. Male fireflies often have wackier antennae than females of their species, so finding a male <i>Flammarionella<\/i> would help us better understand these features.<\/p>\n<p>The fossilized specimen&#8217;s lantern is also unmistakable, comprising two segments at the end of the insect&#8217;s abdomen. A comparison with other species of Mesozoic bioluminescent insects may, hopefully, be the subject of future work.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the search continues for other fossilized fireflies and their insect relatives.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;As the fossil record expands in the future,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/royalsocietypublishing.org\/doi\/10.1098\/rspb.2024.1671\">the researchers write in their paper<\/a>, &#8220;we anticipate further revelations that will broaden our knowledge of when, how and why bioluminescence evolved in these fascinating animals during the Mesozoic era.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The findings have been published in the <a href=\"https:\/\/royalsocietypublishing.org\/doi\/10.1098\/rspb.2024.1671\"><i>Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences<\/i><\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1660802\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/stunning-fossil-reveals-fireflies-glowed-when-dinosaurs-ruled-earth\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the most beautiful sights in the summer twilight is the gentle glow of fireflies lighting up the crepuscular gloom. These twinkling insects are the most abundant bioluminescent beetles, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=116578\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8628],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=116578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116578\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=116578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=116578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=116578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}