Meeting Abstract
The mechanisms by which insects attract mates can be divided into three categories: visual, chemical, and auditory. Fireflies (Lampyridae) are an excellent example of the first category, as males travel throughout the night displaying their species-specific flash in search of a female during the summer months. However, not all fireflies light up. In fact, a number of species have evolutionarily lost the ability to produce light as adults and are thus considered “dark”. Therefore, if these “dark” fireflies are unable to light up, what other mechanism are they using to find mates? While the majority of firefly research has been conducted on lighted species, there is much to be discovered regarding their “dark” counterparts. In this project we investigated chemoreception, specifically olfaction, as an attraction method since many insects rely on pheromones in their search of potential mates. Odorants receptors (ORs) are the primary mechanism by which insects detect pheromones and other volatile chemicals. Using computational methods, we identified 33 putative odorants receptors (ORs), in the Ellychnia corrusca genome, a “dark” species of firefly, and compared their phylogeny to known ORs of other beetles (Coleoptera). By identifying and comparing these ORs we are able to understand their importance in mate attraction for Ellychnia corrusca. In addition, we are able to gain evolutionary insight into an instance of closely related species employing diverging sensory modalities for the same behavior.
