Pteroptyx malaccae is a synchronous firefly that is important in firefly tourism in Thailand. Without well-managed tourism, the fireflies have faced to the problems of shooting camera flashes from tourists. Although the effect of artificial light was well understood, which causes negative impact to firefly courtship, there is no obvious information on the effect of the camera illumination. The experiment of testing four types of camera illumination was set up in laboratory using wild populations of P. malaccae. The flash patterns were recorded by videotaping and analyzed by using TiLIA software. The results showed that all kinds of camera illuminations affect flashing behavior of the fireflies. They prolonged flash interval by increasing pulse duration. The flashes from smartphone camera displayed the strongest effect; however, all flash types did not influence on the firefly life span, mating behavior and oviposition behavior of the fireflies.
Part of the book: Bioluminescence