Loved your blog...NEVER knew there was a bioluminescent beetle. Nice picture!! As I wouldn't know, does it present always as 2 spots as in your picture? Seems to be the case based on my google search, saw a video of them, very cool.
This is indeed high praise! Thank you!
They always seem to have the two pronotum spots that glow green, and a spot on their underside that actually glows orange, (though this only seems to be visible when they are flying, or attempting flight).
Can they actually fly, like a normal winged insect, or are they short hops, sort of like I've seen praying mantis do?
Oh they can definitely actually fly, and attempt to do so every night, as soon as it gets dark, for about forty minutes.
I think it would be cool to own an animal that had bioluminescence like that.Oh they can definitely actually fly, and attempt to do so every night, as soon as it gets dark, for about forty minutes.
It definitely is, loved mine when I had them, very neat Elaterids, and boy did the larvae get huge!
How long do they live?
Adults live 4-5 months, whereas the larvae take one to one and a half years to complete development, (unless sufficiently stressed, in which case they'll pupate prematurely, turning into runty, but usually healthy adults).
Are you talking about how long do the ones that are wc live in captivity? We weigh ours every month or so and all of them continually grow very healthy we've had many of them for about year and a half and a lot of them are adult they all seem happy and healthy
Yep was curious about captivity. Thanks people!
I was out collecting at night a couple years ago (trying to find Dromochorus, found 1), but those click beetles were everywhere and were even bouncing off of us since they were attracted to our flashlights/headlamps.Oh they can definitely actually fly, and attempt to do so every night, as soon as it gets dark, for about forty minutes.
There are at least two conversations going on in this thread for some reason, the OP scorpion question, and Pyrophorus noctilucus beetle talk... I'm referring to the lifespan of CB, adult Pyrophorus noctilucus click beetles, which only live 4-5 months.
Cool, where was this? Pyrophorus noctilucus are a Central and South American species, but we do have some smaller US natives that glow too, (which I'd love to get in culture).
Ugh, reading and typing before full coffee kicking in lol. It was one of the US natives. Came across them in south Texas. I'll keep you in mind once they start up again this year
Ah OK, Deilelater physoderus then, the only species that would be in that area. Thanks man, I'd love to try my hand at breeding them!Ugh, reading and typing before full coffee kicking in lol. It was one of the US natives. Came across them in south Texas. I'll keep you in mind once they start up again this year
