Weird Lightning Bug

[BlueBee]

I was out splitting a hive tonight about midnight (yeah I know…bad idea) when I saw something glowing in the dark.  I assumed it was just another one of the billion lighting bugs we have around here, but the light was smaller than normal and coming from the dirt.  I decided to investigate further.  This is what I found.



This odd ball looking thing was emitting a green yellow light from its aft end.  I scooped it up and put it in a jar to analyze.  From what I’ve been able to read on the Internet, this thing appears to be the larval stage of the common eastern lightning bug (Photinus pyralis) http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Photinus_pyralis.html

[AllenF]

Cool.  Was it on top of the dirt or in the dirt?

[BlueBee]

I was leveling out a spot for a hive (in the dark) with a rake when I saw a glow in the dirt I was leveling.  Can’t say for sure if it was originally ON the dirt or IN the dirt.  I read on the Internet that even the eggs of fireflies can have a slight glow to them!  I haven’t run across any eggs yet.

Years ago we didn’t have a single firefly in our area.  Don’t know if it was global warming or the cans of fireflies we would bring home from Grandma’s in Ohio, but now we have billions of the things. 

The photo of this larva kind of looks like one of those ear creatures that Khan used in Star Trek 2 does it.