GLOWWORM
Phengodes plumosa
PHENGODIDAE (glowworms)
This is a brownish to brownish black beetle. ½ to 2/3 inch long (12-15 mm) . Male beetles have wings while females don’t. The antennae are long and plumose or featherlike. Mandibles are large, slender and very curved. The elytra (the forewings) are greatly shortened, and narrowed. The eyes are large and bulge outward from the sides of head.
Larvae and females are found in leaf litter, under logs and bark. This beetle was found at Camp Brewster where it came to lights. Its overall occurrence at Fontenelle Forest is not known.
The glowworm family are uncommon beetles that have bioluminescent females that appear to be larvaiform (or larger versions of the immature stage.) These adult females are able to produce light from paired photic organs located on each body segment (one glowing spot on each side) and sometimes also from luminous bands that extend across the dorsal surface of the body between each body segment. Females appear to be more commonly encountered than larvae. Because these glowing spots along the females body resemble the windows of train cars internally illuminated in the night, they are often referred to as “railroad-worms.”
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