@article { ISI:000294663300022,
	title = {Roles of biogenic amines in regulating bioluminescence in the Australian glowworm Arachnocampa flava},
	journal = {JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY},
	volume = {214},
	number = {{19}},
	year = {2011},
	month = {OCT},
	pages = {3286-3293},
	publisher = {{COMPANY OF BIOLOGISTS LTD}},
	type = {Article},
	address = {{BIDDER BUILDING CAMBRIDGE COMMERCIAL PARK COWLEY RD, CAMBRIDGE CB4 4DL, CAMBS, ENGLAND}},
	abstract = {The glowworm Arachnocampa flava is a carnivorous fly larva (Diptera) that uses light to attract prey into its web. The light organ is derived from cells of the Malpighian tubules, representing a bioluminescence system that is unique to the genus. Bioluminescence is modulated through the night although light levels change quite slowly compared with the flashing of the better-known fireflies (Coleoptera). The existing model for the neural regulation of bioluminescence in Arachnocampa, based on use of anaesthetics and ligations, is that bioluminescence is actively repressed during the non-glowing phase and the repression is partially released during the bioluminescence phase. The effect of the anaesthetic, carbon dioxide, on the isolated light organ from the present study indicates that the repression is at least partially mediated at the light organ itself rather than less directly through the central nervous system. Blocking of neural signals from the central nervous system through ligation leads to uncontrolled release of bioluminescence but light is emitted at relatively low levels compared with under anaesthesia. Candidate biogenic amines were introduced by several methods: feeding prey items injected with test solution, injecting the whole larva, injecting a ligated section containing the light organ or bathing the isolated light organ in test solution. Using these methods, dopamine, serotonin and tyramine do not affect bioluminescence output. Exposure to elevated levels of octopamine via feeding, injection or bathing of the isolated light organ indicates that it is involved in the regulation of repression. Administration of the octopamine antagonists phentolamine or mianserin results in very high bioluminescence output levels, similar to the effect of anaesthetics, but only mianserin acts directly on the light organ.},
	keywords = {dopamine, light organ, neuroanatomy, octopamine, serotonin, tyramine},
	issn = {0022-0949},
	doi = {10.1242/jeb.060509},
	author = {Rigby, Lisa M. and Merritt, David J.}
}
@article {48183,
	title = {Synchronized Circadian Bioluminescence in Cave-Dwelling Arachnocampa tasmaniensis (Glowworms) },
	journal = {Journal of Biological Rhythms},
	volume = {26},
	year = {2011},
	month = {02/2011},
	pages = {34-43},
	abstract = {Larvae of the genus Arachnocampa, known as glowworms, are bioluminescent predatory insects that use light to attract prey. One species, Arachnocampa flava, is known to possess true circadian regulation of bioluminescence: light:dark cycles entrain the rhythm of nocturnal glowing. Given the absence of natural light as a cue in caves, we addressed the question of whether cave populations of Arachnocampa tasmaniensis, a species known to inhabit caves as well as epigean environments, are rhythmic. We found that the major dark-zone cave populations of A. tasmaniensis maintain a high-amplitude 24-hour rhythm of bioluminescence, with the acrophase during external daylight hours. Populations of A. tasmaniensis in caves many kilometers apart show similar, but not exactly the same, timing of the acrophase. Systematic investigation of colonies in the dark zone of a single cave showed that some smaller colonies distant to the main ceiling colony, also in the dark zone, glow in antiphase. Periodic monitoring of a single colony over several years showed that the acrophase shifted from nocturnal to diurnal some time between October 2008 and January 2009. Prey availability was investigated as a possible zeitgeber. The acrophase of prey availability, as measured by light trapping, and the acrophase of bioluminescence do not precisely match, occurring 3 hours apart. Using in-cave artificial light exposure, we show that after LD cycles, cave larvae become entrained to bioluminesce during the foregoing photophase. In contrast, epigean larvae exposed to artificial LD cycles after a period of DD become entrained to bioluminesce during the foregoing scotophase. One explanation is that individuals within colonies in the dark zone synchronize their bioluminescence rhythms through detection and matching of each other {\textquoteright}s bioluminescence. },
	keywords = {coupled oscillators, epigean, Hypogean, mutual synchronization, troglophile},
	doi = {10.1177/0748730410391947 },
	url = {http://jbr.sagepub.com/content/26/1/34},
	author = {Merritt, David J. and Arthur K. Clarke}
}
@article {willis_using_2010,
	title = {Using light as a lure is an efficient predatory strategy in Arachnocampa flava, an Australian glowworm},
	journal = {Journal of Comparative Physiology B},
	volume = {181},
	year = {2010},
	pages = {477{\textendash}486},
	abstract = {Trap-building, sit-and-wait predators such as spiders, flies and antlions tend to have low standard metabolic rates (SMRs) but potentially high metabolic costs of trap construction. Members of the genus Arachnocampa (glowworms) use an unusual predatory strategy: larvae
bioluminesce to lure positively phototropic insects into their adhesive webs. We investigated the metabolic costs associated with bioluminescence and web maintenance in larval Arachnocampa flava. The mean rate of CO2 production ( _V CO2) during continuous bioluminescence was 4.38 ll h-1 {\textpm} 0.78 (SEM). The mean _V CO2 of inactive, non-bioluminescing larvae was 3.49 {\textpm} 0.35 ll h-1. The
mean _V CO2 during web maintenance when not bioluminescencing was 8.95 {\textpm} 1.78 ll h-1, a value significantly lower than that measured during trap construction by other predatory arthropods. These results indicate that bioluminescence itself is not energetically expensive, in accordance with our prediction that a high cost of bioluminescence would render the Arachnocampa sit-and-lure predatory strategy inefficient. In laboratory experiments, both elevated feeding rates and daily web removal caused an increase in bioluminescent output. Thus, larvae increase their investment in light output when food is plentiful or when stressed through having to rebuild their webs.
As light production is efficient and the cost of web maintenance is relatively low, the energetic returns associated with continuing to glow may outweigh the costs of continuing to attract prey.},
	keywords = {Bioluminescence, Metabolic rate, Silk, Sit-and-wait predator, Web},
	issn = {0174-1578},
	doi = {10.1007/s00360-010-0533-3},
	author = {Robyn E. Willis and Craig R. White and Merritt, David J.}
}
@article {43674,
	title = {Distribution and phylogenetic relationships of Australian glow-worms Arachnocampa (Diptera, Keroplatidae)},
	journal = {Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution},
	volume = {48},
	year = {2008},
	pages = {506-514},
	abstract = {Glow-worms are bioluminescent fly larvae (Order Diptera, genus Arachnocampa) found only in Australia and New Zealand. Their core habitat is rainforest gullies and wet caves. Eight species are present in Australia; five of them have been recently described. The geographic distribution of species in Australia encompasses the montane regions of the eastern Australian coastline from the Wet Tropics region of northern Queensland to the cool temperate and montane rainforests of southern Australia and Tasmania. Phylogenetic trees based upon partial sequences of the mitochondrial genes cytochrome oxidase 11 and 16S mtDNA show that populations tend to be clustered into allopatric geographic groups showing overall concordance with the known species distributions. The deepest division is between the cool-adapted southern subgenus, Lucifera, and the more widespread subgenus, Campara. Lucifera comprises the sister groups, A. tasmaniensis, from Tasmania and the newly described species, A. buffaloensis, found in a high-altitude cave at Mt Buffalo in the Australian Alps in Victoria. The remaining Australian glow-worms in subgenus Campara are distributed in a swathe of geographic clusters that extend from the Wet Tropics in northern Queensland to the temperate forests of southern Victoria. Samples from caves and rainforests within any one geographic location tended to cluster together within a clade. We suggest that the morphological differences between hypogean (cave) and epigean (surface) glow-worm larvae are facultative adaptations to local microclimatic conditions rather than due to the presence of cryptic species in caves. Crown copyright [copyright] 2008 Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.},
	url = {http://www.online-keys.net/sciaroidea/2000_/Baker\&al_2008_MolPhylogEvol_Arachnocampa.pdf},
	author = {Baker, Claire H. and Graham, Glenn C. and Scott, Kirsten D. and Cameron, Stephen L. and Yeates, David K. and Merritt, David J.}
}
