ArticleProceedings. Biological sciences2022
Beetle bioluminescence outshines extant aerial predators.
Article in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 24 citations in OpenAlex.
- Species-Specific Bacterial Associations Emerge From Stochastically Assembled Microbiomes in Northeastern American Fireflies.Molecular ecology · 2026Article
- Glow in the D-ARK: a new bioluminescent species ofRoyal Society open science · 2025Article
- Antennal RNAseq reveals odorant receptors with sex-biased expression in the common eastern firefly, Photinus pyralis.BMC genomics · 2025Article
- Specialized bark-gnawing beetles reveal phragmotic defence and subcortical ecology in the Cretaceous.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Biochemical basis of endogenous bioluminescent springtail Lobella sauteri (Collembola).Biology open · 2025Article
- Antennal sensilla diversity in diurnal and nocturnal fireflies (Coleoptera, Lampyridae).PloS one · 2025Article
- Article
- A light in the dark: a mid-Cretaceous bioluminescent firefly with specialized antennal sensory organs.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2024Article
- EnigmaticiScience · 2023Article
- Sexual Signals Persist over Deep Time: Ancient Co-option of Bioluminescence for Courtship Displays in Cypridinid Ostracods.Systematic biology · 2023Article
- Identification of a Female-Produced Sex Attractant Pheromone of the Winter Firefly, Photinus corruscus Linnaeus (Coleoptera: Lampyridae).Journal of chemical ecology · 2023Article
- Beetle bioluminescence outshines extant aerial predators.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 7 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
We understand very little about the timing and origins of bioluminescence, particularly as a predator avoidance strategy. Understanding the timing of its origins, however, can help elucidate the evolution of this ecologically important signal. Using fireflies, a prevalent bioluminescent group where bioluminescence primarily functions as aposematic and sexual signals, we explore the origins of this signal in the context of their potential predators. Divergence time estimations were performed using genomic-scale datasets providing a robust estimate for the origin of firefly bioluminescence as both a terrestrial and as an aerial signal. Our results recover the origin of terrestrial beetle bioluminescence at 141.17 (122.63-161.17) Ma and firefly aerial bioluminescence at 133.18 (117.86-152.47) Ma using a large dataset focused on Lampyridae; and terrestrial bioluminescence at 148.03 (130.12-166.80) Ma, with the age of aerial bioluminescence at 104.97 (99.00-120.90) Ma using a complementary Elateroidea dataset. These ages pre-date the origins of all known extant aerial predators (i.e. bats and birds) and support much older terrestrial predators (assassin bugs, frogs, ground beetles, lizards, snakes, hunting spiders and harvestmen) as the drivers of terrestrial bioluminescence in beetles. These ages also support the hypothesis that sexual signalling was probably the original function of this signal in aerial fireflies.
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