The biology and conservation of the black-winged firefly, Luciola cerata Olivier (Coleoptera: Lampyridae)
Date Issued
2010
Date
2010
Author(s)
Wu, Chia-Hsiung
Abstract
Conservation biology is an integrated science, the studying results of nature, applying, social and humane science could be used in the management of conservation strategies. The black winged firefly, Luciola cetata Olivier is endemic to Taiwan, and also the main watching species in firefly-watching season. It is wide-separated firefly species under altitude of 1500 meter beside Taitung and Kenting area. It is the most abundant in the unlit mountain area. The topics of this study are three biological studying and one social science studying; these are the studying of morphology, the bioluminescence of L. cerata within a night, the dimorphism and sexual selection of male L.cerata and the out value of firefly eco-industry in Mt. Ali area. The results of these studies could become the basic of the conservation strategy for L. cerata., L. cerata is middle firefly, the communication system are HP system, it means that the female response delay time was fix, about 0.07~0.09 sec. The flashing behavior of male L. cerata could devided to three stages. The first stage is warm-up stage, 18: 40~ 19:01, then the active stage, 19:02~21:39; the last one is resting stage, 21:40~23:39. The time of flashing duration, interval and male numbers in each stage are different. The male L. cerata has dimorphism, pentagonal and semi-oval male upon the sharp of the 2nd light segment. In the laboratory experiment with different sex ratios, when the male ratio were high, female preferred mating with pentagonal male and laid more eggs than the female matted with semi-oval male. Female still preferred mating with pentagonal male in relative high female ratio, the female response delay to semi-oval male was decreased. The income of the guesthouse manager and firefly watching tour operators in the Mt. Ali area was collected by questionnaire from Jun, 2007 to Feb, 2008. The data from 31 operators were collected. The average operators were 7.5 years. Tours were mainly conducted mainly during the spring and summer months. Firefly watching tours were conducted between 6-9:00 p.m., lasted about 1 hour, and the guesthouse guests were given one free tour per evening. The total travel business income in the Mt. Ali area amounted to NTD 931,000,000 annually. The annual income of the guesthouse manager during the firefly watching season (from Apr. to Jun.) and the rest of the year were NTD 52,654,560 dollars (28.67%) and NTD 131,011,920 dollars (71.33%), respectively. The monthly incomes during the firefly watching period and the non-firefly watching months were NTD 17,551,520 and NTD 14,556,880 respectively, which was a significant difference (p = 0.023, δ < 0.05). The results show that firefly watching in the Mt. Ali area is beneficial to the guesthouse manager. This study suggests that a limited firefly-watching activity, well-planning firefly-watching season project and the continuing firefly ecological education are relative suitable methods for the conservation of L. cerata.
Subjects
Luciola cerata
male dimorphism
bioluminescence
sexual selection
firefly
eco-industry
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