Lampyrinae

Lampyrinae
Male adult of Lamprigera yunnana
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Suborder:	Polyphaga
Infraorder:	Elateriformia
Family:	Lampyridae
Subfamily:	Lampyrinae Rafinesque, 1815
Tribes
Cratomorphini Lamprocerini Lampyrini Photinini Pleotomini

The Lampyrinae are a large subfamily of fireflies (Lampyridae). The exact delimitation, and the internal systematics, have until recently been a matter of debate; for long this group was used as a "wastebin taxon" to hold any fireflies with insufficiently resolved relationships. Regardless, they are very diverse even as a good monophyletic group, containing flashing and continuous-glow fireflies from the Holarctic and some tropical forms as well. The ancestral Lampyrinae probably had no or very primitive light signals; in any case several modern lineages appear to have returned to the pheromone communication of their ancestors independently. ^[1]

Systematics

The group has recently been examined using molecular phylogenetics, using fairly comprehensive sampling. ^[2]

References

1. Stanger-Hall, Kathrin F.; Lloyd, James E.; Hillis, David M. (2007). "Phylogeny of North American fireflies (Coleoptera: Lampyridae): Implications for the evolution of light signals" (PDF). Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 45 (1): 33–49. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2007.05.013. PMID   17644427.
2. Martin, Gavin J.; Stanger-Hall, Kathrin F.; Branham, Marc A.; et al. (1 November 2019). Jordal, Bjarte (ed.). "Higher-Level Phylogeny and Reclassification of Lampyridae (Coleoptera: Elateroidea)". Insect Systematics and Diversity . 3 (6). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/isd/ixz024.