Meeting Abstract
Fireflies (Coleoptera: Lampyridae) are a diverse family of beetles best known for their bioluminescent mating displays. Fireflies are also chemically defended with complex blends of cardiotoxic steroids called bufadienolides or lucibufagins, yet the chemistry of only a few species has been described. Here we describe the diversity and complexity of the chemical defenses for ten North American firefly species collected from Tennessee and Pennsylvania. Whole body extracts were analyzed via liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). We quantified both qualitative and quantitative aspects of the chemical variation using traditional multivariate approaches and a novel method we developed to hierarchically partition phenotypic complexity. For the first time, we show that much of the variation in firefly chemistry can be attributed to species identity and lifestyle strategy (i.e., bioluminescent vs. pheromonal signaling vs. aggressive mimicry).
