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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Beetles (Coleoptera) » Water, Rove, Scarab, Longhorn, Leaf and Snout Beetles (Polyphaga) » Click, Firefly and Soldier Beetles (Elateroidea) » Fireflies (Lampyridae) » Unidentified Firefly Larvae
Photo#9507
Nymph?
Copyright © 2005 Lew Scharpf

Nymph?
Auburn, Alabama, USA
January 3, 2005
I was really suprised to see this specimen in early January, especially after two hard freezes. Its length is about 20 mm and note the stringlike fiber from its head to the posterior area. Is this an artifact inadvertantly picked up by the insect or does it have more significance than that? Any chance this is a type of cockroach nymph?

Images of this individual: tag all
Nymph? Nymph?
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Contributed by Lew Scharpf on 5 January, 2005 - 9:02pm
Last updated 11 January, 2009 - 2:14pm

Moved
Moved from Click, Firefly and Soldier Beetles.
… tom murray, 11 January, 2009 - 2:14pm login or register to post comments

lampyrid
*
… v belov, 11 January, 2009 - 12:58pm login or register to post comments

Moved
Moved from Beetles.
… Boris Büche, 30 March, 2007 - 6:01am login or register to post comments

Beetle Larva
That's a beetle larva. I believe both fireflies (lampyridae) and netwinged beetles (Lycidae) have larva that look like this. I found a similar one preying on a snail last year and attempted to rear it to find out which it would be but unfortunately it died.
… Troy Bartlett, 5 January, 2005 - 9:45pm login or register to post comments

 
Lampyridae vs. Lycidae larvae
In a PDF document on Lampyridae on this page, it says that "All larvae and most adults are luminescent." But in the doc on Lycidae on the same page, there is no mention of the larvae being luminescent, so I wonder whether Lampyridae/Lycidae larvae can be distinguished by looking for the presence/absence of a light-producing organ on the underside of the abdomen? (the organ is very obvious in adult fireflies). A larva I found last September on a tree trunk looked virtually identical to the images in BugGuide but its underside showed no evidence of a light-producing organ, so can I assume it was a net-winged beetle rather than a firefly?
… Robin McLeod, 6 January, 2005 - 2:51pm login or register to post comments

 
I agree...
I shot a similar looking one last April, and I remember it being quite chilly out still:

...it's interesting that both specimens were photographed on artificial structures...
… Tony DiTerlizzi, 6 January, 2005 - 8:17am login or register to post comments

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