Bioluminescence emissions of the fi refl y Luciola praeusta Kiesenwetter 1874 (Coleoptera : Lampyridae : Luciolinae).

ABSTRACT

We recorded the in vivo emission and time-resolved spectra of the fi refl y Luciola praeusta Kiesenwetter 1874 (Coleoptera Lampyridae Luciolinae). The emission spectrum shows that the full width at half maximum (FWHM) value for this particular species is 55 nm, which is signifi cantly narrower than the in vivo half-widths reported till now. The time-resolved spectrum reveals that a fl ash of about 100 ms duration is, in fact, composed of a number of microsecond pulses. This suggests that the speed of the enzyme-catalysed chemiluminescence reaction in the fi refl y for the emission of light is much faster than was previously believed.