Photuris
Photuris is a genus of fireflies (beetles of the family Lampyridae). These are the femme fatale lightning bugs of North America. This common name refers to a behavior of the adult females of these predatory beetles; they engage in aggressive mimicry, imitating the light signals of other firefly species' females to attract, kill, and eat the males. Their flashing bioluminescent signals seem to have evolved independently and eventually adapted to those of their prey, mainly unrelated Lampyrinae, such as Photinus (rover fireflies) or Pyractomena.[1]
| Photuris | |
|---|---|
 | |
| P. lucicrescens | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Coleoptera |
| Family: | Lampyridae |
| Subfamily: | Photurinae |
| Genus: | Photuris Dejean, 1833 |
| Species | |
|
Several, see text | |
The Pennsylvania lightning bug (P. pensylvanica) is the state insect of Pennsylvania.
Species include:
- Photuris caerulucens – Barber
- Photuris cinctipennis – Barber, 1951
- Photuris congener – LeConte, 1852
- Photuris divisa– LeConte, 1852
- Photuris fairchildi– Barber
- Photuris frontalis – LeConte, 1852
- Photuris lucicrescens – Barber, 1951
- Photuris pensylvanica – De Geer, 1774
- Photuris quadrifulgens
- Photuris tremulans – Barber, 1951
- Photuris versicolor – Fabricius, 1798
At least 64 species are recognized,[2] all restricted to temperate North America.[3] They mainly occur from the East Coast to Texas.[4]
References
- Kathrin F. Stanger-Hall, James E. Lloyd & David M. Hillis (2007). "Phylogeny of North American lightning bugs(Coleoptera: Lampyridae): Implications for the evolution of light signals". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 45 (1): 33–49. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2007.05.013. PMID 17644427.
- Lloyd, J.E. (2003). "On research and entomological education VI: Firefly species and lists, old and now". 86 (2): 99–113. Cite journal requires
|journal=(help) - Arnett, R.H., Jr., M. C. Thomas, P. E. Skelley and J. H. Frank. (eds.) (2002). American Beetles, Volume II: Polyphaga: Scarabaeoidea through Curculionoidea. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press. ISBN 0849309549.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
- Sharp, Kelly. "Photuris versicolor". Animal Diversity Web. Retrieved 4 December 2014.