August 12, 2024

Santa Rita Mountain bugs (fireflies)

I have been strenuously avoiding getting into insects -- simply because I don't need another hobby. Spiders -- maybe someday. But I am making an exception here. On at least two occasions I have been at a campsite among the oaks and notices a pulsing light on the ground. Most recently I located the culprit and photographed it.

Fireflies

First off all, it would seem that all fireflies are actually beetles. Also they get called "fireflies" whether they have wings or not. So my ground crawling bioluminescent creature can be called a "firefly".

There is lots of online information about fireflies. I did a search "

The "Guide" never shows a photograph of anything like my specimen and seems to restrict itself to flying fireflies.

The "coffee break" video (from July 2022) begins by presenting a 3-way breakdown by behavior. Joe Cicero is the guy here and is a noted authority. We thus have "day fliers", those with flightless females, and "winged flashers".

Even the larvae have lights (and a retractable head). They turn the lights on/off randomly (characteristic of larvae).

Day flyers are very common in urban Tucson. They are attracted by water and irrigation systems.

The flightless females use a light to signal flying males. Larvaeform. There are 5 instar phases prior to the pupa, then we have the adult. The pupa often waits out the winter to emerge as an adult in the spring.

Have any comments? Questions? Drop me a line!

Tom's hiking pages / [email protected]