Clickable Guide

Interactive image map to choose major taxa

Calendar

Upcoming Events

National Moth Week was July 19-27, and the Summer 2025 gathering in Louisiana, July 19-27

Photos of insects and people from the 2024 BugGuide gathering in Idaho July 24-27

Moth submissions from National Moth Week 2024

Photos of insects and people from the 2022 BugGuide gathering in New Mexico, July 20-24

Photos of insects and people from the Spring 2021 gathering in Louisiana, April 28-May 2

Photos of insects and people from the 2019 gathering in Louisiana, July 25-27

Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Beetles (Coleoptera) » Polyphaga » Series Elateriformia » Elateroidea » Fireflies (Lampyridae) » Lampyrinae » Lucidotini » Diurnal Fireflies (Ellychnia)

Genus Ellychnia - Diurnal Fireflies

Ellychnia californica? - Ellychnia megista

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 Ellychnia (Diurnal Fireflies)

Other Common Names

Day-flying Firefly, Winter Firefly

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

several spp. from sw.US (E. flavicollis, E. bivulneris) and the Pacific coast currently placed here are not congeneric with E. corrusca and appear to be more closely related to Vesta (another messed up taxon) or a discontinuous coastal complex that includes the Chilean Pyractena. ‒based on Joe Cicero's 29.viii.2014 comment

Explanation of Names

Ellychnia Blanchard 1845

Greek 'lamp wick' (from lychnos 'lamp')

Numbers

>12 spp. in our area (needs revision)(1)

Size

5‒14 mm

Identification

see (2)

Range

across NA, but uncommon in Great Basin, Great Plains and se US(1)

Habitat

Active during the day; common on tree trunks in spring, on goldenrod and asters in autumn(3), or on flowers and grassy vegetation, esp. in moist habitats(4)

Works Cited

1.	American Beetles, Volume II: Polyphaga: Scarabaeoidea through Curculionoidea Arnett, R.H., Jr., M. C. Thomas, P. E. Skelley and J. H. Frank. (eds.). 2002. CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton, FL.

2.	Ellychnia of western North America (Coleoptera: Lampyridae) K.M. Fender. 1970. Northwest Science 44: 31-43.

3.	Peterson Field Guides: Beetles Richard E. White. 1983. Houghton Mifflin Company.

4.	Field Guide to Beetles of California Arthur V. Evans and James N. Hogue. 2006. University of California Press.

Contributed by Tony DiTerlizzi on 15 July, 2004 - 7:49am
Additional contributions by cotinis, Bbarnd, Mike Quinn, Aaron Schusteff, v belov, Edward Ruden
Last updated 21 November, 2024 - 1:13am

Disclaimer: Dedicated naturalists volunteer their time and resources here to provide this service. We strive to provide accurate information, but we are mostly just amateurs attempting to make sense of a diverse natural world. If you need expert professional advice, contact your local extension office.

Contributors own the copyright to and are solely responsible for contributed content.
Click the contributor's name for licensing and usage information.
Everything else copyright © 2003-2025 Iowa State University, unless otherwise noted.

Bugguide is hosted by:

Printer Friendly Version