Action spectra of the female's response in the firefly Photinus pyralis (Coleoptera: Lampyridae): evidence for an achromatic detection of the bioluminescent optical signal

Abstract

Behavioural action spectra of the threshold of the Photinus pyralis female response to light stimuli simulating the bioluminescent optical signal of the conspecific male firefly were determined in the laboratory. The action spectra ( Fig. 1) were narrow and peaked in the yellow region of the spectrum. The females responded only to stimuli of wavelengths longer than 480 nm and not to stimuli in the blue (420–460 nm) part of the spectrum. The shape of the function corresponds with (a) the electroretinographic spectral sensitivity function in the long wavelength (520–660 nm) region of the spectrum, (b) the action spectrum of the female response ( Fig. 1), (c) the species yellow bioluminescence emission spectrum and (d) the action spectrum of the intracellular response from single retinular cells ( Fig. 2) of the compound eyes in the firefly. Such a correspondence suggests that the narrow yellow receptors of the female mediate the detection and processing of the optical signal of the conspecific male. Since the bioluminescent optical signal is processed exclusively by a single receptor class, signal detection is achromatic.