Courtship flash communication in two Photuris fireflies

Two species of fireflies were reared from eggs laid by known females. This allowed the observation of flash communication between fireflies that were known to be the same species and females that were known to be virgin. Video equipment was used to record the flash exchanges in the laboratory (ca. 64^oF) because they were too fast to understand with the naked eye. In Photuris versicolor quadrifulgens Barber the male advertising flash pattern was 2 to 5 pulses emitted at ca. 0.7 sec intervals. The female response flash was 1 to 5 pulses emitted at ca. 0.2 sec intervals. The female flash train often started during the third male flash, but sometimes as early as the second male flash or as late as a few milliseconds after the male flash train was over. Males seemed to synchronize flashes with each other. In Photuris aureolucens Barber (tentative ID) the male advertising flash pattern was a single pulse emitted at ca. 3 sec intervals. The female response flash was 1 to 3 pulses emitted at ca. 1 sec intervals. The female flash train started at ca. 1 sec after a male flash and her third flash synchronized with the next male flash. The flash exchange could become continuous with the male flashing once in 3 sec. and the female flashing three times in 3 sec. Males did not seem to synchronize with each other. This is one of the first descriptions of the courtship communication for fireflies in the genus Photuris.