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Glow Worm
My CV
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Latin name?
Lampyris noctiluca
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UK population? (How many are in the UK?)
No one knows, but we seem to be getting rarer
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Genome Size? (Genome size is the total amount of DNA contained within one copy of a single genome)
About 1 Gbp
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Most recent common ancestor to Homo Sapiens (presumed)
A little creature that lived in the sea 560 million years ago
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I should be sequenced because...: it would show how we are related to other fireflies, and to glow-worms in other parts of the UK, which could help to conserve us.
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About Me::
I am the only animal in the UK that can shine a light from its bottom! I’m a sort of beetle called a firefly. I spent the first two or three years of my life as a larva, coming out at night to feed on snails. As you can see from this photo, I can eat a snail perhaps a hundred times my own weight (that’s about the same as a human eating an elephant). I can switch on a light at the tip of my tail to warn predators that I taste disgusting.
A glow-worm larva eating a snail
When I turned into an adult I had a much brighter light, which I use to attract other glow-worms. Only male glow-worms have wings, so the females stand still and use their light to guide the flying males to them.
A glowing female
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My Interview