parting 2006 Glow worm shot

[Galapoheros]

 

[Canfire]

make it glow!

 

[bugmankeith]

You know, i've never seen a firefly larvae before, or so I thought. I have seen those before, so now I know what they are when I see them next spring.

 

[nepenthes]

Im pretty sure thats not a fire fly larvae... they are orange and black like the adults.

 

[bugmankeith]

But wait, I thought firefly larvae were nicknamed "glow worms"?

 

[Galapoheros]

But wait, I thought firefly larvae were nicknamed "glow worms"?

I think they are nicknamed "glow worms". But this isn't a firefly larvae. It's an adult female beetle . They stay "larva-form"...something like that. The males turn into typical beetle morph form. But they also have kind of a moth look to them:? . A matter of opinion but the adult males, to me, have things about them that remind me of fireflies. Pretty strange.

 

[bugmankeith]

Do you have pictures of the adult male, I would like to see.

 

[Galapoheros]

Do you have pictures of the adult male, I would like to see.

No, I don't have any male pics. But I found some using Google a while back. They have a slight "moth" look to them ...another opinion .

 

[lucanidae]

This dosen't appear to me to be a larviform female Lampyridae. Lampyridae (fireflies, lightning bugs, and larvae known as glow worms) are commonly identified by having a pronotum that covers the head. This specimen lacks that feature. Also, larviform females have compound eyes which this specimen dosen't appear to have. It should also be noted that not ALL Lampyrids have larviform females, most species have males and females that appear 'normal' beetle-like. You can easily find pictures of both sexes on google.

 

[lucanidae]

What you've got might be family Phengodidae. Yet another reason common names are bad. These are also known as glow worms, and have larviform females.

 

[myrmecophile]

I am in complete agreement, this is a Phengodidae. Cool image though of a rarely seen critter.

 

[Galapoheros]

Yea I think that was it, "Phengodidae". Glad there are people not as lazy as I am. I posted pics several months ago and someone nailed the ID. I only remembered "Glow worm":? . I've had a few for several months. It's interesting to watch them track down and attack millipedes. I've got small millis everywhere around my house.

 

[nepenthes]

looks like it would be a tasty meal for a T' though wonder how hard they are to breed! :? Or are they actualy pretty nasty?

 

[Galapoheros]

looks like it would be a tasty meal for a T' though wonder how hard they are to breed! :? Or are they actualy pretty nasty?

They might be a tasty T meal. I just roughed one up a little and expected some nasty smell from all the millis they eat, you know, for defense but I didn't smell anything. I've had 3 in a little cup of sub for months so it looks like they don't hurt each other. But I never see many, so breeding allot could be a prob ..and collecting millis for food all the time. Prob a pain.

 

[cacoseraph]

you know, i had a jar with about 50-100 wildcaught millipedes and after a while it was completely full of babies. i could put pieces of food in there and it would get devoured and converted to milli-dirt in amazingly short periods of time. i also had like 10 species in there and at least a few of the differnt shaped ones appeared to be making babies.

i think you could probably have a decent culture in a year or two.