winter firefly - Species Profile
Conservation • Description • Habitat • Ecology • Distribution • Taxonomy
Conservation Status
IUCN Red List
not listed
NatureServe
NNR - Unranked
Minnesota
not listed
Description
Winter firefly is a medium-sized, ⅜″ to 9 ⁄16″ long, diurnal firefly.
The thoracic shield (pronotum) is semi-elliptical. It does not have translucent windows. It is pale with a broad black stripe in the middle and a narrow black stripe on the left and right margins. The pale area between the stripes is usually mostly pale rose colored. From above the pronotum appears black with pale rose “parentheses” markings.
The forewings (elytra) are black without pale borders or stripes. They have minute, brownish-gray hairs that give them a dusty appearance.
The head is concealed beneath the pronotum. The antennae are thread-like and black. They are not flattened. The third antennal segment is shorter than the first.
The legs are black. The end segment of each leg (tarsus) has 5 sections.
There are no bioluminescent organs.
Size
Total length: ⅜″ to 9 ⁄16″
Similar Species
Habitat
Moist, marshy areas
Ecology
Season
May to late September
Behavior
Adults are active during the day. They do not possess bioluminescent organs and therefore do not light up.
Overwintering adults may become active on warm, sunny, winter days, moving a short distance from their wintering spot.
Life Cycle
Adults overwinter in a crevice of tree bark. They emerge and become active in March. Breeding occurs in April and May. Eggs hatch in about 16 days. Adults of the previous season die in late spring. The larvae live in rotting wood and pupate in the fall. Adults of the new season emerge before snowfall.
Larva Food
Snails, slugs, earthworms, and other small insect larvae in rotting wood
Adult Food
Maple tree sap and flower nectar in the spring, and possibly goldenrod and aster flower nectar in the autumn.
Distribution
Occurrence
Common
Taxonomy
Order
Coleoptera (Beetles)
Suborder
Polyphaga (Water, Rove, Scarab, Long-horned, Leaf, and Snout Beetles)
Infraorder
Elateriformia
Superfamily
Elateroidea (Click, Firefy, and Soldier Beetles)
Family
Subfamily
Lampyrinae (Typical Fireflies)
Tribe
Photinini
Genus
Photinus (Rover Fireflies)
Genus
The genus Ellychnia was recently synonymized under Photinus following a phylogenetic study by Zaragoza-Caballero et al. (2023). The authors demonstrated that previous splits based on superficial morphological characters failed to form monophyletic groups, resulting in the return of these species to Photinus.
Subordinate Taxa
Synonyms
Ellychnia corrusca
Photinus corrusca
Common Names
winter firefly
