''Photinus brimleyi'', or sidewinder firefly, is a species of

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 ...

in the

Photinus Photinus (Greek: Φωτεινός; died 376) was a Christian bishop of Sirmium in Pannonia Secunda (today the town Sremska Mitrovica in Serbia), best known for denying the incarnation of Christ, thus being considered a heresiarch by both the Ca ...

genus. It is found in the southeastern United States.

Description

''P. brimleyi'' is a medium-sized

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 ...

, with adults measuring long. Males and females have very different appearances. The males have dark wing covers, or

elytra An elytron (; ; : elytra, ) is a modified, hardened forewing of beetles (Coleoptera), though a few of the true bugs (Hemiptera) such as the family Schizopteridae are extremely similar; in true bugs, the forewings are called hemelytra (sometime ...

, with wide, blurred, light-colored side margins, and a pale yellow head shield, or

pronotum The prothorax is the foremost of the three segments in the thorax of an insect, and bears the first pair of legs. Its principal sclerites (exoskeletal plates) are the pronotum (dorsal), the prosternum (ventral), and the propleuron (lateral) on e ...

, with a dark central mark shaped like a mushroom or a teardrop. Flat-lobed lanterns are visible on the male's

abdomen The abdomen (colloquially called the gut, belly, tummy, midriff, tucky, or stomach) is the front part of the torso between the thorax (chest) and pelvis in humans and in other vertebrates. The area occupied by the abdomen is called the abdominal ...

. The

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 resembl ...

resembles a colorful pink and yellow grub with no wings and very small elytra.

Etymology

''Photinus'' is from the Greek word for 'shining' or 'bright'. The specific epithet is in honor of the naturalist

Clement Samuel Brimley Clement Samuel Brimley (18 December 1863 – 23 July 1946) was a self-trained zoologist who worked at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. His brother, H.H. Brimley, was a zoologist and long-time director of the same museum. Both Brim ...

, who mentioned the species in his 1938 ''Insects of North Carolina'', although it was not named until John Wagener Green published ''Revision of the Nearctic species of "Photinus"'' in 1956.

Lifecycle

Beetles such as ''P. brimleyi'' go through four life stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. ''Photinus'' fireflies spend the majority of their lives as larvae, which are

bioluminescent Bioluminescence is the emission of light during a chemiluminescence reaction by living organisms. Bioluminescence occurs in multifarious organisms ranging from marine vertebrates and invertebrates, as well as in some fungi, microorganisms inc ...

and likely live below the soil surface, eating snails, worms, and other soft-bodied invertebrates. Adults appear in mid-summer, from late June to early August.

Behavior

Adult male ''P. brimleyi'' fireflies fly off the ground and flash to attract the attention of females, starting at sunset or about 15 minutes after sunset. Their flash pattern consists of a fast sideways arc that doubles back on itself. After flashing, the male flies forward, then flashes again, about 1.5 to 2.5 seconds later. A female responds with an answering flash from the entrance of her burrow or from a perch up to high on low vegetation. The male and female communicate in this way until the male finds the female and they mate.

Habitat

''P. brimleyi'' can be seen in damp, mature forests, fields, lawns, and dry upland scrub forests.

Range

''P. brimleyi'' has been recorded in the southeastern United States, including Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Arkansas.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2444195 Lampyridae Bioluminescent insects Beetles described in 1956 Articles created by Qbugbot