Glow worms

[fairplay]

Could someone explain to me why do male glow worms glow ?
Could it be left over from when they first evolved ?

Neil.

[Dogghound]

The quick answer is they dont . Females glow to attract a male which breeds with her, males dont glow. Once she has mated she will loose her light and lay eggs then die.

[Cheryl]

I read this somewhere ...........

Although it is the female glow-worm that emits the strongest light, all stages of this insect are to some degree faintly luminescent, including the male beetles, larvae and eggs.

[Jennie]

I would like to know how they glow.......?

[Dogghound]

It is caused by a chemical reaction which makes light. Through a process called enzymatic oxidation.

[Jonners]

A firefly's flame
Is something for which science has no name.
I can think of nothing eerier
Than flying around with an unidentified glow on a person's posterior.

Ogden Nash

[Dan Salter]

Also the female is flightless and the male flies....but...oddly the 'lesser glow worm' which can be found in the UK (but possible introduced species) is flightless in both male and females...

[fairplay]

Ah, but they do !

Years ago when I was camping under a tree on heathland, I woke up 2 in the morning (in my tent) and turned over to see what the time was on my luminous travel clock.
I noticed a very faint glow moving about on the ground sheet, so quickly grabbed my torch to see what it was.

It was a small beetle, and Firefly came to mind, so I emptied a small box of matches and caught the beetle.
In the morning I cycled to the local library, got hold of Michael Chinery's Insects book, went to Firefly, but it wasn't that.
Then I noticed the drawing next to the Firefly - the male Glow Worm, a perfect match, but nothing in the text about a faint glow. (less than a quarter strength of the female)
I kept the beetle for 2 more nights, but on checking in pitch darkness it never glowed again and I decided to release it.

By the way, where I was camping I had counted 17 glow worms under the bracken further down a track.
At the weekend I caught the bus into Ipswich to look at more detailed books on insects, but no mention of the males glowing.
Then I looked on the library computer and found a site where it mentions the males as having a 'hardly discernible faint glow'

So, not being new to science, I didn't bother reporting it, but the year was either 1991 or 2. Location: Sizewell, Suffolk. (no jokes about Sizewell please !)

So then, back to my question: Why does the male glow ?
It was so dim, it could hardly serve any useful purpose, could it be shared genes or could it even have been slightly hermaphrodite, even though it was a perfectly shaped male ?

Neil.

EDIT. Corr blimey, I've got loads of reply's now, I'll just post this off and give them a read.

[Ukwildlifeo]

The larvae glow too, so perhaps they all have the genes to produce the glowing but only the females have a specific area to show of this light?

[AshLee]

Neil,

Taken from the internet, to prove you are not mad:

"Glow-Worm. It is said that the male glow-worm emits, in a slight degree, a phosphorescent light, - but it is chiefly the female from which the brilliant light proceeds, and which we so often see on banks, beneath hedges, and in various other situations. "

Ash