''Nipponoluciola cruciata'', known as "genji-botaru" (ゲンジボタル) in Japanese, is a

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), ...

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

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. Its habitat is small ditches and streams, and its larvae are aquatic. It was formerly known as ''Luciola cruciata'' but was revised taxonomically in 2022.

Taxonomy

This species was described by

Victor Motschulsky Victor Ivanovich Motschulsky, sometimes Victor von Motschulsky ( Russian: Виктор Иванович Мочульский; 11 April 1810, St. Petersburg – 5 June 1871, Simferopol) was a Russian entomologist mainly interested in beetles. ...

in 1854. The type locality is Japan, but it was incorrectly given as Java. Its Japanese name, "genji-botaru", may derive from ''

The Tale of Genji is a classic work of Japanese literature written by the noblewoman, poet, and lady-in-waiting Murasaki Shikibu around the peak of the Heian period, in the early 11th century. It is one of history's first novels, the first by a woman to have wo ...

'', an 11th-century Japanese novel, or it may derive from the Genji clan, which won the 12th-century

Genpei War The was a national civil war between the Taira clan, Taira and Minamoto clan, 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 Yori ...

. (Another, smaller firefly species, '' Aquatica lateralis'', has the Japanese common name "heike-botaru", a possible reference to the Heike clan, the losers in the Genpei War).

Description

The male is long and wide. The female is larger, long and wide. The pronotum is reddish pink, with a central marking. The black elytra are elongate. In the male, the venter is brown and pale yellow, and in the female, it is brown, yellow and reddish pink. The male's luminous organ occupies its sixth ventrite. The antennae, about long, are between the eyes, which are well developed. The larva's body is soft, with gills. It has defensive organs that are eversible (can be turned inside out).

Distribution and habitat

This species occurs throughout

, except

Hokkaido is the list of islands of Japan by area, second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own list of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō fr ...

and Okinawa. There is one unconfirmed record from Korea. Its habitat is small ditches and streams, with mud or pebbles at the bottom. Adults are found from May to July.

Behaviour and ecology

Larvae of ''Nipponoluciola cruciata'' are aquatic; unable to swim, they crawl at the bottom. They prey on '' Semisulcospira libertina'' snails. Moriya S., Yamauchi T. & Nakagoshi N. (2010). "Sex ratios in the Japanese firefly, ''Luciola cruciata'' (Coleoptera: Lampyridae) at emergence". '' Japanese Journal of Limnology'' 69(3): 255–258. . They have six to seven

instar An instar (, from the Latin '' īnstar'' 'form, likeness') is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, which occurs between each moult (''ecdysis'') until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to ...

s. The fireflies emerge from underground

pupa A pupa (; : pupae) is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their life cycle, the stages th ...

e around June. Maturity is reached in more than one year. Adults live for less than three weeks, and they do not eat anything. Their flash communication system is known as the "complex system". The flying males flash synchronously; the females do not fly while flashing, and their flashes are not synchronized. The male's flash pattern changes when it perches near a female, which emits single pulses. The male then approaches the female, and they copulate. In western Japan, there are two seconds between the male's flashes, and in northern Japan, there are four seconds. Intervals of three seconds occur between these two populations. The female lays 500–1000 eggs. In western Japan, females lay eggs in groups, but they are solitary in eastern Japan.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2258699 Lampyridae Bioluminescent insects Insects of Japan Beetles described in 1854 Aquatic insects Taxa named by Victor Motschulsky