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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Beetles (Coleoptera) » Water, Rove, Scarab, Long-horned, Leaf and Snout Beetles (Polyphaga) » Series Elateriformia » Click, Firefly and Soldier Beetles (Elateroidea) » Fireflies (Lampyridae) » Lampyrinae » Lucidotini » Lucidota » Black Firefly (Lucidota atra)

Species Lucidota atra - Black Firefly

Classification · Explanation of Names · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Life Cycle · Remarks · Works Cited

Lampyrid imago from pupa, Lucidota atra? - Lucidota atra

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Coleoptera (Beetles)

Suborder Polyphaga (Water, Rove, Scarab, Long-horned, Leaf and Snout Beetles)

No Taxon (Series Elateriformia)

Superfamily Elateroidea (Click, Firefly and Soldier Beetles)

Family Lampyridae (Fireflies)

Subfamily Lampyrinae

Tribe Lucidotini

Genus Lucidota

Species atra (Black Firefly)

Explanation of Names

Lucidota atra (Olivier 1790)

atra = 'black'

Size

7.5-13.0 mm(1)

Identification

Typical form:

Melanic forms:

Ventral--note reduced light organ:

Range

e NA to e Great Plains (NS-FL to MB-TX)(1)(2)(3)

Habitat

Open woodlands, often found on trees

Life Cycle

Day-active. Males do not flash, except perhaps immediately after eclosion

Remarks

Adult exudes a milky fluid from joints of legs and abdomen when captured. Light organs appear as small yellowish spots on last abdominal sternite of female or last two sternites of male.(4)

Works Cited

1.	The fireflies (Coleoptera: Lampyridae) of Ontario Luk S.P.L., Marshall S.A., Branham M.A. 2011. Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification 16: 1-105.

2.	Checklist of beetles (Coleoptera) of Canada and Alaska. Second edition Bousquet Y., Bouchard P., Davies A.E., Sikes D.S. 2013. ZooKeys 360: 1–402.

3.	Texas A&M University Insect Collection (TAMUIC)

4.	A Manual of Common Beetles of Eastern North America Dillon, Elizabeth S., and Dillon, Lawrence. 1961. Row, Peterson, and Company.

Contributed by Cotinis on 29 July, 2004 - 5:49am
Additional contributions by Mike Quinn, v belov
Last updated 17 July, 2021 - 8:49pm

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