The

beetle Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

family Phengodidae is known also as glowworm beetles, whose

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The ...

e are known as

glowworm Glowworm or glow-worm is the common name for various groups of insect larvae and adult larviform females that glow through bioluminescence. They include the European common glow-worm and other members of the Lampyridae, but bioluminescence also o ...

s. The females and

e have

bioluminescent Bioluminescence is the production and emission of light by living organisms. It is a form of chemiluminescence. Bioluminescence occurs widely in marine vertebrates and invertebrates, as well as in some Fungus, fungi, microorganisms including ...

organs. They occur throughout the

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 3 ...

from extreme southern

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. The recently recognized members of the Phengodidae, the Cydistinae, are found in Western Asia. The family

Rhagophthalmidae The Rhagophthalmidae are a family of beetles within the superfamily Elateroidea. Members of this beetle family have bioluminescent organs on the larvae, and sometimes adults, and are closely related to the Phengodidae (glowworm beetles), though ...

, an Old World group, used to be included in the Phengodidae. Larval and

larviform female Larviform female is a biological phenomenon occurring in some insect species, where the females in the adult stage of metamorphosis resemble the larvae to various degrees, while the male appears more morphologically adult (as imagoes). The resemblan ...

glowworms are

predator Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...

s, feeding on

millipede Millipedes are a group of arthropods that are characterised by having two pairs of jointed legs on most body segments; they are known scientifically as the class Diplopoda, the name derived from this feature. Each double-legged segment is a resu ...

s and other

arthropod Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a Segmentation (biology), segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and Arth ...

s occurring in

soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. Some scientific definitions distinguish ''dirt'' from ''soil'' by restricting the former te ...

and

litter Litter consists of waste products that have been discarded incorrectly, without consent, at an unsuitable location. Litter can also be used as a verb; to litter means to drop and leave objects, often man-made, such as aluminum cans, paper cups, ...

. The winged males, which are often attracted to lights at night, are short-lived and probably do not feed. Females are much larger than the males and are completely larviform. Males may be luminescent, but females and larvae have a series of luminescent organs on trunk segments which emit yellow or green light, and sometimes an additional head organ which emits red light, as in

railroad worm A railroad worm is a larva or larviform female adult of a beetle of the genus ''Phrixothrix'' in the family Phengodidae, characterized by the possession of two different colors of bioluminescence. It has the appearance of a caterpillar. The ...

s. This family is distinct from the

fireflies 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 ...

(family

Lampyridae The Lampyridae are a family (biology), family of Elateroidea, elateroid beetles with more than 2,000 described species, many of which are bioluminescence, light-emitting. They are soft-bodied beetles commonly called fireflies, lightning bugs, ...

), which may also be called "glow-worms" in its larval stage. According to a few recent studies, Phengodidae might possibly include (or be

sister taxon In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and t ...

to) the long-lipped beetles, which are primarily differentiated from phengodids by the unusual modifications of their mouthparts; long-lipped beetles were treated as a family Telegeusidae but are most recently treated as a subfamily within the family

Omethidae Omethidae is a family of Elateroidea sometimes known as the false soldier beetles. They are native to South, Southeast and Eastern Asia and the Americas. Their biology is obscure and their larvae are unknown. They appear to inhabit vegetation in ...

.ROZA, André Silva; CONSTANTIN, Robert; MERMUDES, José Ricardo Miras. ''Pseudotelegeusis meloi'' sp. nov., the first Telegeusinae from Peru (Coleoptera: Omethidae, Telegeusinae). European Journal of Taxonomy, .l. n. 580, nov. 2019. ISSN 2118-9773. Available at: . Date accessed: 06 dec. 2019. doi:https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2019.580. Glowworm (4213020277)

Genera

* '' Acladocera'' * '' Adendrocera'' * '' Brasilocerus'' * ''

Cenophengus ''Cenophengus'' is a genus of glowworm beetles in the family Phengodidae The beetle family Phengodidae is known also as glowworm beetles, whose larvae are known as glowworms. The females and larvae have bioluminescence, bioluminescent organs. ...

'' * '' Cephalophrixothorax'' * '' Cydistus'' * '' Decamastinocerus'' * ''

Distremocephalus ''Distremocephalus'' is a genus of glowworm beetles in the family Phengodidae The beetle family Phengodidae is known also as glowworm beetles, whose larvae are known as glowworms. The females and larvae have bioluminescence, bioluminescent o ...

'' * '' Eurymastinocerus'' * '' Euryognathus'' * '' Euryopa'' * '' Howdenia'' * '' Mastinocerus'' * '' Mastinomorphus'' * '' Mastinowittmerus'' * '' Microcydistus'' * '' Microphengodes'' * '' Neophengus'' * '' Nephromma'' * '' Oxymastinocerus'' * '' Paramastinocerus'' * '' Paraptorthodius'' * '' Penicillophorus'' * ''

Phengodes ''Phengodes'' is a genus of glowworms in the beetle family Phengodidae. There are more than 30 described species in ''Phengodes''. Species These 31 species belong to the genus ''Phengodes'': * ''Phengodes arizonensis'' Wittmer, 1976 * ''Pheng ...

'' * '' Phrixothrix'' * '' Pseudomastinocerus'' * '' Pseudophengodes'' * '' Ptorthodiellus'' * '' Ptorthodius'' * '' Spangleriella'' * '' Steneuryopa'' * ''

Stenocladius ''Stenocladius'' is an Asian genus of fireflies or glow-worms in the subfamily Ototretinae The Ototretinae are a small subfamily in the firefly family (Lampyridae). They are close to the Luciolinae in some respects, but do not glow or flas ...

'' * '' Stenophrixothrix'' * '' Taximastinocerus'' * '' Zarhipis''

References

* Sean T. O'Keefe, "Phengodidae", in

Ross H. Arnett, Jr. Ross Harold Arnett Jr. (April 13, 1919 – July 16, 1999) was an American entomologist noted for his studies of beetles, and as founder of the ''Coleopterist's Bulletin''. Born in Medina, New York, he was a star student at Cornell University, wher ...

and Michael C. Thomas, ''

American Beetles ''American Beetles'' is the single most comprehensive description of the beetles of North America north of the tropical area of Mexico. It was started by Ross H. Arnett, Jr. as an update of his classic ''The Beetles of the United States''; along ...

'' (CRC Press, 2002), vol. 2

External links

Phengodidae
i
J. F. Lawrence, A. M. Hastings, M. J. Dallwitz, T. A. Paine and E. J. Zurcher (2000 onwards). Elateriformia (Coleoptera): descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval for families and sub-families.

on the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures Web site {{Taxonbar, from=Q690737 Bioluminescent insects Beetle families Beetles of North America Beetles of South America Insects of Central America