''Aquatica lateralis'', known as "heike-botaru" (ヘイケボタル) in Japanese, is a species of

firefly The Lampyridae are a family of elateroid beetles with more than 2,000 described species, many of which are light-emitting. They are soft-bodied beetles commonly called fireflies, lightning bugs, or glowworms for their conspicuous production ...

found in Russia, Japan and Korea. It was formerly placed in the genus '' Luciola''. The larvae are aquatic and live in rice paddies. The genome of ''Aquatica lateralis'' was sequenced in 2018.

Taxonomy

Victor Motschulsky described this species as ''Luciola lateralis'' from

Dauria Transbaikal, Trans-Baikal, Transbaikalia ( rus, Забайка́лье, r=Zabaykalye, p=zəbɐjˈkalʲjɪ), or Dauria (, ''Dauriya'') is a mountainous region to the east of or "beyond" (trans-) Lake Baikal in Far Eastern Russia. The steppe an ...

, Siberia in 1860. In 2010, Fu, Ballantyne and Lambkin transferred four ''Luciola'' species, including ''lateralis'', to the new genus ''Aquatica''. The Japanese name of ''A. lateralis'' is "heike-botaru", which may derive from ''

The Tale of Heike is an epic account compiled prior to 1330 of the struggle between the Taira clan and Minamoto clan for control of Japan at the end of the 12th century in the Genpei War (1180–1185). Heike () refers to the Taira (), ''hei'' being the ''on'yo ...

'', a 14th-century Japanese novel, or the Heike clan, which lost the 12th-century

Genpei War The was a national civil war between the Taira and Minamoto clans during the late Heian period of Japan. It resulted in the downfall of the Taira and the establishment of the Kamakura shogunate under Minamoto no Yoritomo, who appointed himself ...

. (Another, larger firefly species, ''

Luciola cruciata ''Nipponoluciola cruciata'', known as "genji-botaru" (ゲンジボタル) in Japanese, is a species of firefly found in Japan. Its habitat is small ditches and streams, and its larvae are aquatic. It was formerly known as ''Luciola cruciata'' but ...

'', has the Japanese common name "genji-botaru", a possible reference to the Genji clan, the winners in the Genpei War).

Description

The male is long and wide. The female is long and wide. The body is elongate oval. The pronotum is reddish pink or yellowish, with a central brown band, and the elytra are dark brown. The male has a brown and yellow venter, and that of the female is brown, yellow and reddish pink. The oblong aedeagal sheath, about in length, and the male genitalia, long, are asymmetric. The larva is soft, having gills and defensive organs.

Distribution and habitat

''A. lateralis'' is found in eastern Siberia, the Kuril Islands, Japan (including all four main islands) and Korea. Its presence in China is unsubstantiated. Larvae live in rice paddies. Adults are found from April to November; their numbers are greatest from June to August.

Behaviour

The larvae are aquatic, crawling at the bottom of the water. Third and fourth instar larvae overwinter in soils and stubble. In Hokkaido and Korea, individuals often mature in more than one year; on Honshu,

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surroun ...

and Shikoku, individuals usually mature in less than one year. The larvae and adults emit yellowish lights, and the dim glow of the eggs and pupae is green. The male emits flashes while searching for the female, whose flashes attract the male to a leaf from it. The male then emits a twinkling flash. Flashing continues, and then they copulate. Green, yellow and red artificial flashes all attract the male. In Hokkaido, there is longer than one second between flashes. In other areas of Japan and in Korea, there is about half a second.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2803979 Lampyridae Bioluminescent insects Insects of Russia Insects of Japan Insects of Korea Beetles described in 1860 Aquatic insects Kuril Islands Taxa named by Victor Motschulsky