Biology and behavior of firefly, Pteroptyx malaccae (Gorham)
2000
Sommai Chunram | Angoon Lewvanich
Survey and collection of fireflies were undertaken around the mangrove areas of Samut Sakhon, Samut Songkhram, Trad and Chanthaburi provinces during the year 1998-2000. Living samples of all stages of fireflies were collected and studied for their life cycle in the laboratory. The dead samples were investigated for their taxonomic characters. The studies revealed that fireflies collected from Samut Sakhon, Samut Songkhram, Rayong and Chanthaburi provinces were P. malaccae and P. valida, They perched in clusters on Sonneratia caseolaris, Avicennia afficinalis and Premna collinse and flashed synchronously. P. malaccae was smaller than P. valida in size but more abundant in number. The life cycle of P. malaccae studied in the laboratory lasted for 107 days of which 13 days for egg stage, larvae of the first to the fifth instars covered 87 days and the pupal period was 7 days. The longevity of the adult lasted for one week. The egg stage did not flash, but the larval, pupal and adult stages have the flashings ability. The number of fireflies found in 1998 along the mouth of Thachin river between Baan Srimuang and Baan Park Lad, Tha Sai subdistrict, Muang district, Samut Sakhon province was very low in April while in September the number was very high.
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