The

beetle Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...

family Phengodidae is known also as glowworm beetles, whose

larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

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 al ...

s. The females and

e have bioluminescent organs. They occur throughout the

New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...

from extreme southern

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

, numbering over 250 species in total. The recently recognized members of the Phengodidae, the Cydistinae, are found in Western Asia. The family Rhagophthalmidae, an Old World group, used to be included in the Phengodidae. Larval and larviform female glowworms are

predator Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common List of feeding behaviours, feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation ...

s, feeding on

millipede Millipedes (originating from the Latin , "thousand", and , "foot") 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 derive ...

s and other

arthropod Arthropods ( ) are invertebrates in the phylum Arthropoda. They possess an arthropod exoskeleton, exoskeleton with a cuticle made of chitin, often Mineralization (biology), mineralised with calcium carbonate, a body with differentiated (Metam ...

s occurring in

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

and

litter Litter consists of waste products that have been discarded incorrectly, without consent, at an unsuitable location. The waste is objects, often man-made, such as aluminum cans, paper cups, food wrappers, cardboard boxes or plastic bottles, but ...

. 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 worms. This family is distinct from the fireflies (family Lampyridae), which may also be called "glow-worms" in its larval stage. Some early studies suggested that 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 ...

to) the long-lipped beetles, which were formerly treated as a family Telegeusidae, but these are now treated as a subfamily within the family Omethidae.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.

Genera

* '' Acladocera'' * '' Adendrocera'' * '' Brasilocerus'' * '' Cenophengus'' * '' Cephalophrixothorax'' * '' Cydistus'' * '' Decamastinocerus'' * '' Distremocephalus'' * '' Eurymastinocerus'' * '' Euryognathus'' * '' Euryopa'' * '' Howdenia'' * '' Mastinocerus'' * '' Mastinomorphus'' * '' Mastinowittmerus'' * '' Microcydistus'' * '' Microphengodes'' * '' Neophengus'' * '' Nephromma'' * '' Oxymastinocerus'' * '' Paramastinocerus'' * '' Paraptorthodius'' * '' Penicillophorus'' * '' Phengodes'' * '' Phrixothrix'' * '' Pseudomastinocerus'' * '' Pseudophengodes'' * '' Ptorthodiellus'' * '' Ptorthodius'' * '' Spangleriella'' * '' Steneuryopa'' * '' Stenocladius'' * '' Stenophrixothrix'' * '' Taximastinocerus'' * '' Zarhipis''

References

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 Taxa named by John Lawrence LeConte