Winter firefly
The winter firefly is a firefly that does not glow as a grown-up. It is a dark beetle with pink and yellow edges around a black spot behind its head. Instead of flashing at night, it is busy in the daytime and even spends the winter outside on tree bark.
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Fun facts
The grown-ups have no lights, but the larvae do. Each larva has two little lanterns that glow.
Grown-ups live about 10 months, much longer than most fireflies, which live only a few weeks.
In winter they cling to the bark of oak, hickory and tulip trees, and most of them survive the cold.
Since they do not flash, the boys find the girls by smell instead of by light.
In the north, the larvae grow inside rotting wood for about 16 months before they change into beetles.
Most asked questions about Winter firefly
?Do winter fireflies glow?
The grown-ups do not glow. Only the larvae have two small glowing lanterns.
?Where do winter fireflies go in winter?
They stay outside, clinging to the bark of big trees like oaks, until spring.
?How big is a winter firefly?
It is about 9 to 18 millimetres long.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Photinus corruscus
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Lampyridae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Lampyridae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Ellychnia corrusca (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Katja Schulz. CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.
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