Glyde's Fast Facts: Flashbug

Kingdom: Bestia (animal)
Class: Entomos (Insects)
Order: Cleoptra (Beetles)
Family: Volatilus (flying)
Genus: Lycherna (light)
Species: Fulgeo (flash)

Introduction: The Lycherna Fulgeo, or more commonly known as the Flashbug, is a very common insect found almost anywhere in the world. It's adaptability to climates, as well as it's practical uses, has made it one of the most well-known bugs among commoners and hunters alike. 

Appearance: You can spot flashbugs easily at night by their by glowing rear ends, but during the day, they can be distinguished by the three horn on the elytra, i.e. the part of their shell that covers their wings. Most are a dull yellow with slight variations. 

Location: They're everywhere except underwater and in space. That is all. Now pay attention to the next part.

Properties:The flashbug's exoskeleton has a high concentration of a molecule similar in property to that of Silicon-oxygen tetrahedra₁, which practically makes it a living crystal. As such, these bugs have very strong muscles composed of a very unique protein that help them move around. However, their thorax and abdomen are composed of two layers made of a more flexible material. When a flashbug wants to emit light, it pushes part of its abdomen out where the bioluminescence can be observed₂. 
     The iconic bright light they give off when they are jolted with electricity is cause by a different property of their body. When occurring naturally, this flash of light is caused by an optical phenomenon known as triboluminescence, a phenomenon occurs when chemical bonds are broken in a material when it is pulled apart, ripped, scratched, crushed, or rubbed, in combination with what's known as piezoelectricity, that is to say, the electric charge that accumulates in certain solid materials in response to mechanical stress₃. 
     While the flashbugs are alive, the cells in their body are constantly saturated by a constant stream of air flowing through their body. However, in the absence of air, or if the bug dies, the air flow stops, and having lost its air supply, the cells shrivel and die₄ and causes a series of reactions, all of which happen within a few seconds. As the cells shrink, it tightens the muscles throughout the flashbug's body until they finally snap. When that happens, the proteins in the muscles release a large amount of electricity which radiates through the exoskeleton₅. As the electricity passes through the exoskeleton, it quickly disrupts, severs the chemical bonds between the molecules, which in turn produces the flash of light we are all familiar with, before the bonds reconnect. 

Growth: Flashbug typically live up about a month before they die of natural causes. Like most Cleoptra, flashbugs undergo a complete metamorphosis. Once they hatch, they spend roughly about 2 weeks going through their instars, i.e. the developmental stages, before becoming pupae for a week or so and finally hatching as adults for the last two weeks of their life.
     During the mating season, which tends to be around the time of the full moon, female flashbugs emit a pheromone that attracts male flashbugs to her. Once they mate, the females stops emitting the pheromone and flies off to lay her eggs while the males try to find more females to mate with. Females bury themselves into the ground, lay up to a hundred eggs, and die shortly afterwards, leaving her remains for immediate consumption once the larvae hatch, 70% of which are usually female. 
     The larvae spend the majority of the first instar in the small cavity eating away at their mother's remains. Only those that eat their fill survive while others die and become food themselves, cutting the numbers down to about half. Once they are into their second instar, they dig out of the ground and scavenge for whatever food they can find. It is at this stage most are eaten. When they're ready, they climb up whatever they can find to pupate. Some are unfortunate and climb up small stalks of a plant where they are snatched up by other creature, while others are more fortunate to be near trees where they can be in relative safety. Typically, about 5 to 10 percent of the original batch of eggs make it to this stage and about a week later, they emerge as adults and go about their busy lives. From here almost all flashbugs that make it to adulthood die after having mated.

Ecology: Flashbugs are very low on the food chain as is with most insects. The larvaes are common food for many insectivores as well as other birds of the land. Most will not bother with the adults as the shock from the bug's death, have often been enough to deter most predators on snacking on them₆. 

Uses: To commoners and the everyday person, they are kept in jars or cages to use as a lantern of sorts, but the light that the bugs give off when jolted make it very valuable to hunters as a distraction tool. Live adult flashbugs are often caught and kept in suitable containers where they are kept until they are needed. When they are needed, the live bugs are kept inside the bomb casings with a very thin wire tied around its head. When the casing cracks, a jolt of electricity is sent through wire and onto the exoskeleton where the triboluminescence takes place. The heat snaps the wire and once the flashbug recovers from the shock, can fly away without any harm done to itself. 
     Hunters have also been able to utilize the piezoelectrical properties of the flashbug's protein and use them to make bullets capable of shocking those that are hit/pierced by it.

<sub>1: Silicon-oxygen tetrahedras are found in quartz crystals.
2. Fireflies have a specialized light-emitting organ that utilizes and enzyme known as luciferase to act on a compound known as luciferin and in the precense of magnesium ions, ATP, and oxygen, produces light. 
3: Both are actual phenomenons that occur in the real world
4: Plant cells exhibit similar behavior except with water via osmosis.
5: A thin film of M13 bacteriophage can be used to construct a piezoelectric generator sufficient to operate a liquid crystal display. 
6: Many predators tend not to eat fireflies as they are distasteful.</sub>