Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada

Species Photinus pyralis

Photinus pyralis Firefly - Photinus pyralis - male Photinus pyralis Firefly - Photinus pyralis Big Dipper Firefly - Photinus pyralis - male Firefly Beetle - Dorsal - Photinus pyralis Firefly - Lateral  - Photinus pyralis Firefly - Dorsal - Photinus pyralis
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Coleoptera (Beetles)
Suborder Polyphaga
No Taxon (Series Elateriformia)
Superfamily Elateroidea
Family Lampyridae (Fireflies)
Subfamily Lampyrinae
Tribe Lucidotini
Genus Photinus
No Taxon (pyralis Group)
Species pyralis (Photinus pyralis)
Other Common Names
Big Dipper Firefly
Explanation of Names
Photinus pyralis (Linnaeus 1767)
pyralis 'of fire'
Size
9‒19 mm, usually 10‒14 mm(1)
Identification
male: 0.6-0.8 s long, yellow, J-shaped flash every 5‒7 s(1)
hovers about 2' (0.6 m) above ground, then drops vertically, gives single prolonged flash as is ascending, then flash diminishes(2). Flashing at dusk, earlier than most other fireflies.
Range
e US (ON‒NY‒FL to SD‒TX)(1)
Habitat
Meadows and edges of woodlands
Season
May‒Oct in TN; peak mid-Jun to early Jul(1)
Food
Adults capable of feeding (Case 2004). Larvae prey on larvae, slugs, snails
Life Cycle
Eggs laid on moist soil. Larvae take two summers to complete growth, overwinter twice, pupate in soil chambers(3)
Remarks
Females winged(1)
Works Cited
1.Fireflies, Glow-worms, and Lightning Bugs: Identification and Natural History of the Fireflies of the E. and C. U.S. & Canada.
Faust, L.F. 2017. University of Georgia Press, Athens. 400 pp.
2.A Manual of Common Beetles of Eastern North America
Dillon, Elizabeth S., and Dillon, Lawrence. 1961. Row, Peterson, and Company.
3.National Audubon Society Field Guide to Insects and Spiders
Lorus and Margery Milne. 1980. Knopf.