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Vision in click beetles (Coleoptera: Elateridae): pigments and spectral correspondence between visual sensitivity and species bioluminescence emission

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Abstract

Among lampyrids, intraspecific sexual communication is facilitated by spectral correspondence between visual sensitivity and bioluminescence emission from the single lantern in the tail. Could a similar strategy be utilized by the elaterids (click beetles), which have one ventral abdominal and two dorsal prothoracic lanterns? Spectral sensitivity [S(λ)] and bioluminescence were investigated in four Brazilian click beetle species Fulgeochlizus bruchii, Pyrearinus termitilluminans, Pyrophorus punctatissimus and P. divergens, representing three genera. In addition, in situ microspectrophotometric absorption spectra were obtained for visual and screening pigments in P. punctatissimus and P. divergens species. In all species, the electroretinographic S(λ) functions showed broad peaks in the green with a shoulder in the near-ultraviolet, suggesting the presence of short- and long-wavelength receptors in the compound eyes. The long-wavelength receptor in Pyrophorus species is mediated by a P540 rhodopsin in conjunction with a species-specific screening pigment. A correspondence was found between green to yellow bioluminescence emissions and its broad S(λ) maximum in each of the four species. It is hypothesized that in elaterids, bioluminescence of the abdominal lantern is an optical signal for intraspecifc sexual communication, while the signals from the prothoracic lanterns serve to warn predators and may also provide illumination in flight.

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Abbreviations

BL:

Bioluminescence

ERGs:

Electroretinograms

MSP:

Microspectrophotometry

Q :

Photons

S(λ):

Spectral sensitivity

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Acknowledgments

The electrophysiological data on the click beetles were part of a master’s degree thesis of Alexandre A. Carvalho at the Universidade de São Paulo. This investigation was supported by Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) and the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPQ), and a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship to EJH Bechara; NSF grants IBN-118793 and IBN 0235820 to TW Cronin; National Institutes of Health grant SO6GM08016 to AB Lall; and grants to DF Ventura. We are grateful to Professora Cleide Costa (Museu de Zoologia, Universidade de São Paulo) for a critical reading of this manuscript and for providing us information on the geographical distribution of the Pyrophorini studied in South America. We are also indebted to anonymous reviewers for their critical suggestions to improve this MS and to Jean Lall for her excellent editorial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Howard University, Washington, DC, 20059, USA

    Abner B. Lall & Avionne A. Hill

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Maryland, Catonsville, MD, 21228, USA

    Thomas W. Cronin

  3. Departamento de Psicologia Experimental, Instituto de Psicologia, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Prof. Mello Moraes, 1721, São Paulo, SP, CEP 05508-900, Brazil

    Alexandre A. Carvalho, John M. de Souza & Dora F. Ventura

  4. Instituto de Qumica, Universidade de São Paulo, C.P. 26077, São Paulo, SP, 05513-970, Brazil

    Marcelo P. Barros, Cassius V. Stevani & Etelvino J. H. Bechara

  5. Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde, Universidade Cruzeiro do Sul, São Paulo, SP, 08060-070, Brazil

    Vadim R. Viviani

Authors
  1. Abner B. Lall
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  2. Thomas W. Cronin
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  3. Alexandre A. Carvalho
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  4. John M. de Souza
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  6. Cassius V. Stevani
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  7. Etelvino J. H. Bechara
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  8. Dora F. Ventura
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  9. Vadim R. Viviani
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  10. Avionne A. Hill
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Correspondence to Abner B. Lall.

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Lall, A.B., Cronin, T.W., Carvalho, A.A. et al. Vision in click beetles (Coleoptera: Elateridae): pigments and spectral correspondence between visual sensitivity and species bioluminescence emission. J Comp Physiol A 196, 629–638 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-010-0549-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-010-0549-x

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