The Lampyrini are a
tribe
The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...
of
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 ...
in the large
subfamily
In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...
Lampyrinae
The Lampyrinae are a large subfamily of fireflies ( Lampyridae). The exact delimitation, and the internal systematics, have until recently been a matter of debate; for long this group was used as a " wastebin taxon" to hold any fireflies with ins ...
. The lineage formerly separated as Pleotomini seems to be a specialized offshoot of the Lampyrini not too distant from the
type genus
In biological taxonomy, the type genus (''genus typica'') is the genus which defines a biological family and the root of the family name.
Zoological nomenclature
According to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, "The name-bearin ...
''
Lampyris'' and is therefore included here. This tribe occurs throughout the
Holarctic
The Holarctic realm is a biogeographic realm that comprises the majority of habitats found throughout the continents in the Northern Hemisphere. It corresponds to the floristic Boreal Kingdom. It includes both the Nearctic zoogeographical reg ...
and contains the typical "glowing" or "continuous-light" fireflies from that region. Some otherwise very advanced Lampyrini, like
species
A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
in ''
Paraphausis'' and ''
Pyrocoelia'', have degenerated light-producing organs again and communicate primarily or even exclusively with
pheromone
A pheromone () is a secreted or excreted chemical factor that triggers a social response in members of the same species. Pheromones are chemicals capable of acting like hormones outside the body of the secreting individual, to affect the behavio ...
s like the ancestors of the fireflies did.
[Stanger-Hall, Kathrin F.; Lloyd, James E. & Hillis, David M. (2007): Phylogeny of North American fireflies (Coleoptera: Lampyridae): Implications for the evolution of light signals. '' Mol. Phylogenet. Evol.'' 45(1): 33-49. ]
PDF fulltext
Systematics
The group has recently been examined using molecular phylogenetics, using fairly comprehensive sampling.
Genera
* ''
Afrodiaphanes''
Geisthardt, 2007 i c g
* ''
Diaphanes''
Motschulsky, 1853 i c g
* ''
Lampyris''
Geoffroy, 1762 i c g
* ''
Lychnobius''
Geisthardt, 1983 i c g
* ''
Microlampyris''
Pic, 1956 i c g
* ''
Microphotus''
LeConte, 1866 i c g b
* ''
Nelsonphotus''
Cicero, 2006 i c g b
* ''
Nyctophila''
E. Olivier, 1884 i c g
* ''
Ovalampis''
Fairmaire, 1898 i c g
* ''
Paraphausis''
Green, 1949 i c g b
* ''
Pelania''
Mulsant, 1860 i c g
* ''
Petalacmis''
E. Olivier, 1908 i c g
* ''
Prolutacea''
Cicero, 2006 i c g b
* ''
Pyrocoelia''
Gorham, 1880 i c g
Data sources: i = ITIS,[ c = Catalogue of Life,][ g = GBIF,][ b = Bugguide.net]
References
Lampyridae
Taxa named by Pierre André Latreille
Beetle tribes
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