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Firefly larva Unfortunately I cannot get this down to species level as little research has been conducted in Africa on these little critters. The beetles are coloured orange and black and contain canthardin, making them distasteful to predators. Adults are active during the day and are often found on grasses and other plants, sometimes in large numbers, feeding from the nectar of flowers. the larvae live in decaying wood or under loose bark, probably feeding on fungal material. Coleoptera,Geotagged,Lampyridae,Luciola,Winter,beetles,insects,larvae,south africa Click/tap to enlarge

Firefly larva

Unfortunately I cannot get this down to species level as little research has been conducted in Africa on these little critters. The beetles are coloured orange and black and contain canthardin, making them distasteful to predators. Adults are active during the day and are often found on grasses and other plants, sometimes in large numbers, feeding from the nectar of flowers. the larvae live in decaying wood or under loose bark, probably feeding on fungal material.

    comments (3)

  1. View Claire Hamilton's profile
    Claire Hamilton
    Lion
    View Lion class
    All these beautiful photos of pretty birds etc. Just had to bring you back down to ground level and the ...not quite so pretty! Posted 11 years ago
  2. View Ferdy Christant's profile
    Ferdy Christant
    Lion
    View Lion class
    Pretty in their own way, and all the more mysterious. Posted 11 years ago
  3. View Pudding4brains's profile
    Pudding4brains
    Lion
    View Lion class
    Hi Claire, this is not (the larva of) a Lycidae but rather of a Lampyridae (Fire fly). The two look a little bit alike and google will serve up mixed images under either keyword as these are often misidentified vice-versa.
    I don't have a lot of info on South African fauna but from a quick search online it would seem that there are not too many Lampyridae around (?!?)
    This larva looks exactly like the larvae of European Luciola spp and the only Luciola from SthAfr I could find is Luciola tagensis (Ballantyne, 1970). That's not much of an "ID" but if it would indeed be the only Luciola in the country than I would see no harm in naming it so. Do you have resources with South African checklists or some such?
    P.S. You may want to edit/update the "description" ;o)     Posted 9 years ago, modified 9 years ago

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View Claire Hamilton's profile

By Claire Hamilton

All rights reserved
Uploaded Dec 30, 2014. Captured Dec 29, 2014 07:55.
country flag of South Africa Explore South Africa 1,842 674 0
  • Canon EOS 70D
  • f/16.0
  • 1/200s
  • ISO250
  • 100mm
Captured in the winter. More winter photos.