Strolling in the heart of the river forest, in the middle of the night. But a faint glow draws his attention. This is what happened a couple of years ago to wildlife photographer Jeff Cremer, who made a very special discovery during an overnight hike in the rainforest of Tambopata, Peru. He noticed some green phosphorescent spots hidden within a rock wall
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
A stroll in the heart of the forest rain, in the middle of the night. But a faint glow draws her attention. This is what happened to the photographer a couple of years ago Jeff Cremer, who made a very special discovery during a night hike in the Tambopata forest in Peru. He has noticed some green phosphorescent spots hidden within a rock wall.
Intrigued, keeping at a safe distance, he took some photos and sent them to Reddit, in a section where users of the site help answer questions and identify species. She discovered that the strange lights were probably insect larvae. Which? The answer has long remained a mystery.
What was that strange species and why it became glowing and phosphorescent in the middle of the Amazon rainforest? Last October, Jeff Cremer was accompanied by entomologist Aaron Pomerantz and his colleagues Mike Bentley and Geoff Gallic of the University of Florida. Together, they hoped to literally shed light on this mystery.
“We believe these belong to a family of beetles called Elateridae, which are commonly known as 'click beetles'. But beyond that, we're not entirely sure what species it is. Elateridae is a very large family, with about 10.000 species described worldwide and only about 200 species have been documented bioluminescenza”Explains Pomerantz in Perunature. According to the expert, some species of red-hot beetle larvae in Brazil could be spotted in old termite nests where they attract and capture them.
“The behavior we observed, in which the larvae used a dirty wall as opposed to a termite mound, for their home and as a hunting ground, could be part of a small part habit, not yet documented for this enigmatic group of luminous creatures ”.
The larvae up close show the luminescence from the glands near the head. As he points out Aaron in video which follows, the larvae lean their luminous heads out of the dirty wall with their jaws open in search of food. The production of light in these small animals is likely due to a molecule known as Luciferin, which is also the compound used by many species of Fireflies.
A discovery that opens the way to the knowledge of a still unknown world, given that very little is known about these little creatures. What role do they play in the complex context and ecosystem of the Amazon rainforest? Because they develop the ability to produce its own light, e how this trait of theirs has evolved? But above all, what can they teach us with their biochemistry and the biodiversity of life on our planet?
So many questions, have been far from being answered. There is a fantastic world yet to be discovered, let's just hope we don't destroy it before we even know it.
Francesca Mancuso
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