From the sea to the air, Niue’s glow in the dark series features the Glowworm

Another of the Mint of Polands many 17.5 gram silver nature coin series, Bioluminescent Animals has a slower release schedule than many of its siblings, just a single coin annually. Debuting last year with a jellyfish design, this latest coin is the second in the series to be revealed. Taking a look at creatures that employ their own ‘glow-in-the-dark technology’, the subjet of choice here is the Common Glowworm.

Lampyris noctiluca, is a firefly species, a beetle famed for their glow. The males and femles are quite different from each other. The males are winged with a hard case that closes over them when not in use. Females have no wings and are often double the size of the male, reaching up to 25 mm in length. The beetle lives in old-growth grassland, verges, hedgebanks, and on heaths. They have a prodigious range, from Britain and Portugal in the west and heading east as far as China. They survive north almost to the edge of the Arctic Circle, but are not found in the Americas.

They use bioluminescence to attract mates, adult females being particularly noted for their glow. They emit a yellowish-green light from the translucent underside of their last three abdominal segments for up to two hours a night, or until they find a mate. They can do this for up to 10 nights consecutively. Males can see the light up to 50 metres away and are attracted to the female with the brightest glow as she is likely to be larger and carry more eggs. Amazingly, the energy producced is almost all light, just 2% being generated as heat. June and July are peak glowing times.

Like pretty much all of the Mint of Polands’ 17.5 gram nature coins, this one is unmodified apart from some selective colouring. When the lights go out a part of the coin will glow to show what the glowworm looks like at night. It’s a clever use of a simple technique to highlight what makes the subjects of these coins so special (roll your mouse over the image below to see). Inscriptions are kept to just the latin name of the species, the rest being moved to the obverse, the standard Niue affair from this mint. Packaging is a good quality box and the mintage is maxed at 999 pieces. Price is around the €90 mark and they can be bought from the usual dealers including site sponsor Powercoin. They should be shipping in the next week or two.