Winter Firefly - Ellychnia corrusca

I was pretty excited when I found this beetle today. It's unusual among fireflies because it's active during late winter and early spring, AND because it lacks a light-producing organ. Also, it has reflexive bleeding when disturbed (white dot on elytra in photo).

Habitat: Tree trunk in a deciduous forest

comments (3)

Ferdy Christant

Lion

Fantastic find! Winter insects are fascinating the more I learn about them. There's the mysterious northern dragonfly that survives even in snow and recently in a documentary I saw a winter moth. The only moth species to come out at pretty much the coldest part of the season.

And here's another...such a surprising niche. Posted 6 years ago
1. Christine Young
  
  Lion
  
  Very cool! Winter insects are awesome, but I rarely see any, except stoneflies! This was an especially exciting find for me because of the reflexive bleeding. I was handling it so gently to show my kids that there was no light organ on this species when we saw the drop of liquid exude from between the elytra. It was SO cool, and definitely unexpected as I've never seen them do this before! Posted 6 years ago
2. 1. Ferdy Christant
    
    Lion
    
    It's awesome, had no idea that they do this. Posted 6 years ago

The Winter Firefly

''Ellychnia corrusca'', or winter firefly, is a species of firefly in the genus Ellychnia. It is a lantern-less diurnal beetle common throughout the United States and Canada. They favor ''Quercus'', ''Carya'', and ''Liriodendron tulipifera''.

Info 4 0

Similar species: Beetles

Species identified by Christine Young