Arachnocampa luminosa

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Arachnocampa luminosa
Threads of the larvae of Arachnocampa luminosa

Threads of the larvae of Arachnocampa luminosa

Systematics
Order : Fly (Diptera)
Subordination : Mosquitoes (Nematocera)
Superfamily : Sciaroidea
Family : Longhorn mosquitoes (Keroplatidae)
Genre : Arachnocampa
Type : Arachnocampa luminosa
Scientific name
Arachnocampa luminosa
( Skuse , 1890)
Arachnocampa luminosa bioluminescence in a cave in New Zealand

Arachnocampa luminosa ( Māori Titiwai ) is a species of longhorn mosquito (Keroplatidae) thatis endemicto New Zealand . Both the larvae and the adults are bioluminescent ; the scientific species name also refers to this.

distribution

The species occurs in damp caves, grottos, in crevices on slopes, under tree roots, overhanging rocks and windless, damp places in the forest.

Known colonies of Arachnocampa luminosa in New Zealand

Arachnocampa luminosa occurs on both the North Island and the South Island of New Zealand . The species is common, but has been divided into isolated populations by habitat loss through agriculture and deforestation.

Well-known colonies are:

on the North Island
on the south island

Life cycle

The glowworm spends most of its life in the larval stage. The larval stage lasts 6 to 12 months, depending on the food available. The larva hatches from the egg about 3–5 mm long and grows up to about 30 mm in length. The body of the larva is soft, the head capsule hard. Whenever the head capsule becomes too small, the larva sheds its skin several times in its lifetime.

Eventually the larva pupates. The doll hangs from the ceiling on a short silk thread. The pupal stage lasts 1–2 weeks and glows occasionally. A few days before hatching, the male pupae almost stop shining, the female pupae intensify their shine. The females may use it to attract males so that they will be there when the females hatch.

The adults do not eat and only live a few days. Males and females glow, but not as brightly as the larvae. The only task of the mosquitoes is to reproduce. They are bad fliers and often stay close to the hatch, creating colonies. The female lays about 130 eggs in clumps of 40 or 50 and dies soon after laying eggs. The larvae hatch after about 20 days.

The larva spins a silk nest on the ceiling of the cave and lets up to 70 silk threads up to 40 cm long with drops of mucus hang down. The catch threads built by specimens living in the forest are much shorter and only reach about 5 cm in length, as they otherwise get caught in the wind.

The larvae glow to lure prey into their catch threads. A colony of larvae on the ceiling of the cave may simulate a starry sky for the prey. Hungry larvae shine brighter than those that have just eaten. They catch sand flies , mayflies , caddis flies , mosquitoes , butterflies, even small snails and millipedes. When a prey is caught in a catch thread, it is pulled up by the larva eating the thread and eventually the prey. Cannibalism occurs when there is a high population density or when adult mosquitoes get caught in the trap threads.

The glow is the result of a chemical reaction between luciferin , the enzyme luciferase , adenosine triphosphate as an energy carrier and oxygen . It takes place in the Malpighian vessels in the abdomen.

The larvae react to light or touching the catch threads or their body by withdrawing into their "nest" (their retreat) and stopping to glow. Generally they have few predators. The larvae are eaten in some caves by a type of harvester . A fungus attacks the larvae and kills them. The fungal spores spread through the movement of air. However, since the larvae live in places with no wind, this limits their spread. The greatest threat is the destruction of the habitat by human influences.

Taxonomy and research history

The species was first collected in 1871 in a gold mine in the Thames region, New Zealand . The doctor and priest Arthur Guyon Purchas described it as a relative of the European firefly , a beetle. The Russian diplomat and entomologist Carl Robert Osten-Sacken then recognized in 1886 that it was the larva of a mosquito, not a beetle. The species was first described as Bolitophila luminosa in 1891 by Frederick Skuse, an entomologist working in Australia . The British entomologist Frederick Wallace Edwards then re-established the genus Arachnocampa in 1924 , with Arachnocampa luminosa as the type species . The part of the name Arachno - refers to the spiders (from Greek Arachne ), after the sticky threads of the larvae that act like spider webs. Traditionally, it was included in the Mycetophilidae family . As early as 1981 the French researcher Loïc Matile elevated the previous subfamily Keroplatinae of the Mycetophilidae to the new family Keroplatidae; this has ultimately prevailed in research.

The Keroplatidae comprise almost 1000 species (as of 2006) and are distributed worldwide. Bioluminescence is known from around ten species, including Keroplatus testaceus in a species from Vogelsberg (Hesse). A. luminosa is the best known of these. The genus Arachnocampa comprises a total of nine species, all of which are distributed in Australia with the exception of A. luminosa . There are also previously unconfirmed figures from New Guinea and New Caledonia . Also Arachnocampa tasmaniensis 's Exit Cave and the Mystery Creek Cave in Tasmania a tourist attraction.

Arachnocampa luminosa is the sister species of the other species of the genus taken together, it is the only species in the (thus monotypical) subgenus Arachnocampa sensu stricto .

literature

  • Roy Alexander Harrison : Glow-Worm . In: Alexander Hare McLintock (Ed.): An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand . Wellington 1966 ( online [accessed December 17, 2015]).
  • VB Meyer-Rochow: The New Zealand Glowworm. Waitomo Caves Museum Society 1990, ISBN 0-908683-09-X , 60 pages [available from the Waitomo Caves Museum]
  • Ormiston Walker, Judy Kerdel: The Glow-Worm. MacMillan New Zealand, 1990, ISBN 0-7329-0121-9 . (Children's book)
  • Article Glowworm In: Encyclopædia Britannica , 15th ed.
  • RA Broadley: Notes on pupal behavior, eclosion, mate attraction, copulation and predation of the New Zealand glowworm “Arachnocampa luminosa” (Skuse) (Diptera: Keroplatidae), at Waitomo. In: New Zealand Entomologist 35 (1): 1-9. 2012.
  • RA Broadley, IAN Stringer: Larval behavior of the New Zealand glowworm. “Arachnocampa luminosa” (Diptera: Keroplatidae), in bush and caves. In: VB Meyer-Rochow (Ed.): Bioluminescence in Focus - A Collection of Illuminating Essays. Research Signpost. Kerala 2009, pp. 325-355.
  • RA Broadley, IAN Stringer: Prey attraction by larvae of the New Zealand glowworm. “Arachnocampa luminosa” (Diptera: Mycetophilidae). Invertebrate Biology 120 (2): 170-177. 2001
  • Oliver C. Watkins et al .: New Zealand glowworm (Arachnocampa luminosa) bioluminescence is produced by a firefly-like luciferase but an entirely new luciferin . In: Scientific Reports . tape 8 , no. 1 , February 19, 2018, p. 3278 , doi : 10.1038 / s41598-018-21298-w , PMID 29459729 .

Web links

Commons : Arachnocampa luminosa  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Guide to New Zealand Soil Invertebrates, accessed March 4, 2015
  2. ^ Louise FB Green: The fine structure of the light organ of the New Zealand glow-worm Arachnocampa luminosa (Diptera: Mycetophilidae) . In: Elsevier BV (Ed.): Tissue and Cell . 11, No. 3, 1979, ISSN  0040-8166 , pp. 457-465. doi : 10.1016 / 0040-8166 (79) 90056-9 .
  3. ↑ Neal L. Evenhuis: Catalog of the Keroplatidae of the World (Insecta: Diptera) . Bishop Museum Bulletin in Entomology 13, Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu 2006
  4. ^ VB Meyer-Rochow: Glowworms: a review of Arachnocampa spp. and kin. Luminescence, 22, pp. 251-265, 2007 doi : 10.1002 / bio.955
  5. ↑ Claire H. Baker, Glenn C. Graham, Kirsten D. Scott, Stephen L. Cameron, David K. Yeates, David J. Merritt: Distribution and phylogenetic relationships of Australian glow-worms Arachnocampa (Diptera, Keroplatidae) . Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 48, pp. 506-514, 2008 doi : 10.1016 / j.ympev.2008.04.037